GlyCombo

GlyCombo enables rapid, complete combinatorial glycan composition identification from mass spectrometry acquisitions of glycan-containing samples.

Key Features:

• Multiple adduct search: Searches for multiple adducts simultaneously to improve assignment coverage.
• Off-by-one error anticipation: Anticipates off-by-one errors to reduce unassigned MS2 scans.
• MS vendor neutrality: Operates independently of mass spectrometry instrument manufacturer.
• Derivatization neutrality: Accommodates diverse glycan derivatization chemistries.
• Glycan-type neutrality: Handles multiple classes of glycans including N-glycans, O-glycans, and free polysaccharides.
• mzML format support: Extracts precursor m/z values from mzML vendor-neutral files for cross-platform compatibility.
• Text format support: Processes glycan-containing samples provided in text format.
• LC-MS/MS compatibility: Assigns monosaccharide combinations to glycan precursor masses subjected to MS2 in LC-MS/MS experiments.
• Skyline integration: Generates output files that provide predefined transitions for Skyline software.

Scientific Applications:

• Glycan biomarker identification: Identifies glycans sought as biomarkers for a wide range of diseases.
• Glycomics analysis pipelines: Rapidly identifies glycans in each acquisition as an integral component of glycomics workflows.
• Comprehensive glycan feature identification: Enables complete glycan composition identification across diverse glycomic sample types.
• Benchmark data set analysis: Reduces unassigned MS2 scans by 40% compared to predominant approaches.

Methodology:

GlyCombo performs combinatorial glycan composition determination by assigning monosaccharide combinations to glycan precursor masses. The software extracts precursor m/z values from input files and evaluates compositions against precursor masses including those from MS2 in LC-MS/MS experiments.