Frontiers in Chemistry (Aug 2021)

Deciphering the O-Glycosylation of HKU1 Spike Protein With the Dual-Functional Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography Materials

  • Yun Cui,
  • Xuefang Dong,
  • Xiaofei Zhang,
  • Cheng Chen,
  • Dongmei Fu,
  • Xiuling Li,
  • Xinmiao Liang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.707235
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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HKU1 is a human beta coronavirus and infects host cells via highly glycosylated spike protein (S). The N-glycosylation of HKU1 S has been reported. However, little is known about its O-glycosylation, which hinders the in-depth understanding of its biological functions. Herein, a comprehensive study of O-glycosylation of HKU1 S was carried out based on dual-functional histidine-bonded silica (HBS) materials. The enrichment method for O-glycopeptides with HBS was developed and validated using standard proteins. The application of the developed method to the HKU1 S1 subunit resulted in 46 novel O-glycosylation sites, among which 55.6% were predicted to be exposed on the outer protein surface. Moreover, the O-linked glycans and their abundance on each HKU1 S1 site were analyzed. The obtained O-glycosylation dataset will provide valuable insights into the structure of HKU1 S.

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