The identification of glycans can be done via the measurements of glycans after PNGase F digest or via the measurement of glycopeptides after tryptic digestion, where both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. They have in common the need of an intense bioinformatic processing of the resulting LC-MS/MS data.
Purified glycoproteins can also be analyzed via intact mass determination, with ultra high resolution mass spectrometers, different glycosylated proteoforms can be distinguished.
Glycan and glycopeptide distribution in tissues can be analyzed via mass spectrometric imaging.
Research groups working in this field are the group of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Schlüter and Prof. Dr. Sandra Blois.