GlycoHunter: An Open-Source Software for the Detection and Relative Quantification of INLIGHT-Labeled N‑Linked Glycans

Glycans are responsible for many
biological activities; however,
their structures are incredibly diverse and complex, often rendering
the field of glycomics unsolvable by a single analytical technique.
The development of multiple chemical derivatization strategies and
bioinformatic software is responsible for some of the greatest analytical
gains in the field of glycomics. The INLIGHT strategy is a chemical
derivatization technique using hydrazide chemistry to derivatize the
reducing end of N-linked glycans and incorporates either a natural
(NAT, 12C6) or a stable-isotope label (SIL, 13C6) to carry out relative quantification. Here
we present GlycoHunter, a user-friendly software created in MATLAB
that enables researchers to accurately and efficiently process MS1
glycomics data where a NAT and SIL pair is generated for relative
quantification, including but not limited to, INLIGHT. GlycoHunter
accepts the commonly used data file formats imzML and mzXML and effectively
identifies all peak pairs associated with NAT- and SIL-labeled N-linked
glycans using MS1 data. It also includes the ability to tailor the
search parameters and export the results for further analysis using
Skyline or Excel.