The Glycomic and Glycoproteomic Studies of Milk

New analytical tools have significantly impacted many areas in biology.  The “Omics” methods have made it possible to profile biological fluids with greater sensitivity and with structural information.  In this presentation, new separation and mass spectrometric methods are discussed as applied to determining the glycan (oligosaccharide) and glycoprotein components of various types of milk from primates to humans.  Oligosaccharides and proteins are the third and fourth most abundant components in human milk.  However, their roles are still not well understood.  Separation methods including nanoflow liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, and microchip LC are currently being used in our laboratory to profile oligosaccharides with accurate quantitation. While, modern proteomics tools are being used to determine the proteome and the glycoproteome of milk.  The glycomics and glycoprotoemics analysis of human and other mammalian milk is performed to determine the specific roles of proteins and glycoproteins in milk.  In this lecture, the preliminary results of these studies as well as the development of the analytical methods will be discussed.