In this study, the majority of identified O-glycopeptides were derived from α-2-HS-glycoprotein , also known as fetuin-A
Fetuin-A is a negative acute phase glycoprotein that is highly abundant in fetal blood plasma
It is involved in transport and storage of substances and features three O-glycosylation sites ( Thr256, Thr270, Ser346 ), which are decorated with sialylated mucin-type core 1 O-glycan structures (30, 58, 59)
In contrast to previous reports (30, 58), intact O-glycopeptides identified and characterized in the present study describe all three known fetuin-A O-glycosylation sites including the attached O-glycans (mono- and disialylated mucin-type core 1 O-glycans), respectively
By pinpointing O-glycosylation sites using ETD, the reported ETD Biotools scores can be misleading
This for instance holds true for the fetuin-A O-glycopeptide 252QPVTSQPQPE262 (m/z 623.233+) and its three potential O-glycosylation sites : Thr252 (669), Thr256 (412), Thr257 (362) (supplemental Fig
S7)
According to the score values T252 would be the occupied site ; the presence of characteristic ETD fragment ions at m/z 344.011+ (c3), 1200.451+ (c5), 1287.471+ (c6), 1525.571+ (z+18), 1751.511+ (z+210), though, clearly indicates the occupancy of Thr256 , which is in agreement with literature findings
For the two other described fetuin-A O-glycosylation sites Thr270 and Ser346 ETD fragmentation was actually not mandatory, because corresponding O-glycopeptides were identified that solely harbor one O-glycosylation site (e.g. Thr270 : 267AVPPV272, Ser346 : 342VVQPVG348), respectively
Also of note, with respect to the peptide identification, b- and y-ions were detected in the CID-MS2 fragment spectra of the fetuin-A O-glycopeptides 252TQPVSQPQPE262 (m/z 623.233+), 267AVPPVVDPDAPPSPPL283 (m/z 872.723+) and 266EAVPPVVDPDAPPSPPL283 (m/z 915.713+), which already permit the unambiguous peptide identification without consideration of CID-MS3 spectra (supplemental Figs
S5–S7)
Furthermore, internal glycopeptide fragment ions resulting from concerted fragmentations along the peptide backbone and along the glycan moiety were detected in the same CID-MS2 spectra - a low-energy CID glycopeptide fragmentation event that is rarely described in literature (e.g.252TQPV(HexNAc1Hex1NeuAc1)SQPQPE262 → 252TQPV(HexNAc)SQ258m/z 945.351+) (supplemental Fig