# Advancing Ultraviolet Photodissociation Mass Spectrometry for Precision Mapping of Protein Glycosylation

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2021 · $37,916

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Glycosylation plays a structural and functional role in all fundamental features of proteins in cells. Despite substantial
evidence suggesting O-glycosylation is vital in cellular processes, the nature of O-linked glycans and the specific locations
of O-glycans are not well characterized. To a large extent, the consensus sequence motif N-X-S/T enables reliable
prediction of N-glycosylation sites, but our knowledge of O-glycosylation is hampered by a lack of simple consensus motifs.
As a result, our current understanding of the impact of O-glycosylation is incomplete. A major obstacle to comprehensive
characterization of O-glycosylation by mass spectrometry-based proteomic workflows is the prominent neutral loss of
labile O-linked glycans using conventional collisional activated dissociation, hampering precise localization. Moreover, no
global enzyme exists that can cleave every possible O-glycan β-O-glycosidic linkage, thwarting enzymatic glycomic analysis.
Mass spectrometry coupled with ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) is positioned to be an important tool in
glycoproteomics by enabling residue-level resolution of PTMs of proteins implicated in human health. UVPD can be
harnessed to provide simultaneously high sequence coverage of peptides and retention of labile modifications, thus
allowing O-glycan mapping and structural characterization. My development of innovative LC-UVPD-MS strategies suitable
for both targeted and global glycoproteomic applications will provide new insight into the correlation of glycosylation with
disease pathways and drive new biological questions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10141782
- **Project number:** 1F31GM140595-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Edwin E Escobar
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $37,916
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10141782

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10141782, Advancing Ultraviolet Photodissociation Mass Spectrometry for Precision Mapping of Protein Glycosylation (1F31GM140595-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10141782. Licensed CC0.

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