Nichollas E. Scott

Protein glycosylation is increasingly recognized as a common protein modification across bacterial species. Within the Neisseria genus O ‐linked protein glycosylation is conserved yet closely related Neisseria species express O‐ oligosaccharyltransferases (PglOs) with distinct targeting activities. Within this work, we explore the targeting capacity of different PglOs using Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) fractionation and Data‐Independent Acquisition (DIA) to allow the characterization of the impact of changes in glycosylation on the proteome of Neisseria gonorrhoeae . We demonstrate FAIMS expands the known glycoproteome of wild type N. gonorrhoeae MS11 and enables differences in glycosylation to be assessed across strains expressing different pglO allelic chimeras with unique substrate targeting activities. Combining glycoproteomic insights with DIA proteomics, we demonstrate that alterations within pglO alleles have widespread impacts on the proteome of N. gonorrhoeae . Examination of peptides known to be targeted by glycosylation using DIA analysis supports alterations in glycosylation occupancy occurs independently of changes in protein levels and that the occupancy of glycosylation is generally low on most glycoproteins. This work thus expands our understanding of the N. gonorrhoeae glycoproteome and the roles that pglO allelic variation may play in governing genus‐level protein glycosylation.

Although general protein glycosylation systems have been well recognized in prokaryotes, the processes governing their distribution, function, and evolution remain poorly understood. Here, we have begun to address these gaps in knowledge by comparative analyses of broad-spectrum O -linked protein glycosylation manifest in species within the genus Neisseria that strictly colonize humans.