Recent advances in demystifying O-glycosylation in health and disease

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Molecular Biology
• Glycobiology

Background:

• O-glycosylation is a prevalent post-translational modification (PTM) crucial in disease pathophysiology.
• The complexity and lack of specific enzymes have historically hindered O-glycosylation analysis.
• Recent technological innovations and the discovery of O-glycoproteases are advancing the field.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the progress in protein O-glycosylation analysis over the last decade.
• To identify emerging trends and keywords in O-glycosylation research using bibliometric analysis.
• To summarize recent advancements in O-glycosylation methodologies and discuss its role in health and disease.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of O-glycosylation literature.
• Review of recent advancements in O-glycan release and O-glycopeptide analysis.
• Discussion of O-glycoprotease characterization and mass spectrometry (MS) based identification methods.

Main Results:

• Bibliometric analysis identified key trends and keywords in O-glycosylation research.
• Significant progress has been made in site-specific O-glycopeptide elucidation and O-glycosite identification.
• Characterization of O-glycoproteases and advanced MS fragmentation techniques facilitate detailed O-glycosylation analysis.

Conclusions:

• Technological advancements, particularly O-glycoproteases, have overcome previous challenges in O-glycosylation analysis.
• Systematic analysis of O-glycoproteins is now feasible, enabling deeper understanding of their roles.
• Further research into O-glycosylation is critical for understanding its impact on health and disease.