Bacterial glycoproteomics

Division of Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK Correspondence Paul G. Hitchen p.hitchen{at}imperial.ac.uk Glycosylated proteins are ubiquitous components of eukaryote cellular surfaces, where the glycan moieties are implicated in a wide range of cell–cell recognition events. Once thought to be restricted to eukaryotes, glycosylation is now being increasingly reported in prokaryotes. Many of these discoveries have grown from advances in analytical technologies and genome sequencing. This review highlights the capabilities of high-sensitivity mass spectrometry for carbohydrate structure determination of bacterial glycoproteins and the emergence of glycoproteomic strategies that have evolved from proteomics and genomics for the functional analysis of bacterial glycosylation.