Glycosylation is a common and biologically significant post-translational modification that is found on numerous virus surface proteins (VSPs). Many of these glycans affect virulence through modulating virus receptor binding, masking antigenic sites, or by stimulating the host immune response. Mass spectrometry (MS) has arisen as a pivotal technique for the characterization of VSP glycosylation. This review will cover how MS-based analyses, such as released glycan profiles, glycan site localization, site-occupancy, and site-specific heterogeneity, are being utilized to map VSP glycosylation. Furthermore, this review will provide information on how MS glycoprofiling data are being used in conjunction with molecular and structural experiments to provide a better understanding of the role of specific glycans in VSP function.

糖基化是一种常见且生物学上重要的翻译后修饰，可在众多病毒表面蛋白（VSP）上找到。这些聚糖中的许多聚糖通过调节病毒受体结合，掩盖抗原位点或刺激宿主免疫反应来影响毒力。质谱分析（MS）已成为表征VSP糖基化的关键技术。这篇综述将涵盖如何基于质谱的分析，例如释放的聚糖谱，聚糖位点定位，位点占有率和位点特异性异质性，用于绘制VSP糖基化图。此外，本综述还将提供有关如何将MS糖谱分析数据与分子和结构实验结合使用的信息，以更好地了解特定聚糖在VSP功能中的作用。