Glyco-Forum section

instrument. Apart from the ability to study non-protein modifications such as sulphation, phosphorylation or glycosylation, the other major strength of a MS approach is in the analysis of mixtures. This has obvious applications in the analysis of heterogeneous molecules, such as those observed in protein glycosylation. Biopolymer research laboratories, both academic and industrial, are making increasing use of MS to complement classical methods, particularly in the identification of novel post-translational modifications and processing events. Various 'soft' ionization MS techniques have been applied to biological research problems. These methods include fast atom bombardment, liquid secondary ion, field desorption, plasma desorption, laser desorption, thermospray and electrospray ionization. FAB-MS has become the most widely used of these techniques. In fact, high-field FAB-MS coupled with traditional protein chemistry has become the method of choice for confirming the cDNA-derived amino acid sequences of large proteins and for the MS characterization of the glycoforms of glycoproteins. The routine problem-solving mass range of highfield FAB-MS is generally up to 8000 Da. This presents no barriers, however, as strategies have been developed for analysing the glycans from glycoproteins irrespective of the overall size and complexity of the molecule. The combination of conventional protein and carbohydrate chemistry with MS,