title: Branching pattern and sequence analysis of underivatized oligosaccharides by combined MS/MS of singly and doubly charged molecular ions in negative-ion electrospray mass spectrometry.
abstract: We previously reported that sequence and partial linkage information, including chain and blood-group types, of reducing oligosaccharides can be obtained from negative-ion electrospray CID MS/MS on a quadrupole-orthogonal time-of-flight instrument with high sensitivity and without derivatization (Chai, W.; Piskarev, V.; Lawson, A. M. Anal. Chem. 2001, 73, 651-657). In contrast to oligonucleotides and peptides, oligosaccharides can form branched structures that result in a greater degree of structural complexity. In the present work we apply negative-ion electrospray CID MS/MS to core-branching pattern analysis using nine 3,6-branched and variously fucosylated oligosaccharides based on hexasaccharide backbones LNH/LNnH as examples. The important features of the method are the combined use of CID MS/MS of singly and doubly charged molecular ions of underivatized oligosaccharides to deduce the branching pattern and to assign the structural details of each of the 3- and 6-branches. These spectra give complimentary structural information. In the spectra of [M - H]-, fragment ions from the 6-linked branch are dominant and those from the 3-linked branch are absent, while fragment ions from both branches occur in the spectra of [M - 2H]2-. This allows the distinction of fragment ions derived from either the 3- or 6-branches. In addition, a unique D2beta-3 ion, arising from double D-type cleavage at the 3-linked glycosidic bond of the branched Gal core residue, provides direct evidence of the branching pattern with sequence and partial linkage information being derived from C- and A-type fragmentations, respectively.
authors.affiliation: MRC Glycosciences Laboratory, Imperial College School of Medicine, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, United Kingdom. w.chai@ic.ac.uk
authors.forename: Wengang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Piskarev
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lawson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D005260:Female; D005643:Fucose / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000032:analysis*; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D009626:Terminology as Topic
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D005643:Fucose