Structural characterization of oligosaccharides in recombinant soluble human interferon receptor 2 using fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis

Separation and Visualization of Glycans by Fluorophore-Assisted Carbohydrate Electrophoresis

Fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis (FACE) is a method in which a fluorophore is covalently attached to the reducing end of carbohydrates, thereby allowing high-resolution separation by electrophoresis and visualization. This method can be used for carbohydrate profiling and sequencing, as well as for determining the specificity of carbohydrate-active enzymes. Here we describe and demonstrate the use of FACE to separate and visualize the glycans released following digestion of oligosaccharides by glycoside hydrolases (GHs) using two examples: (i) the digestion of chitobiose by the streptococcal β-hexosaminidase GH20C and (ii) the digestion of glycogen by the GH13 member SpuA.

Enzymatic Sequence Analysis of N-Glycans by Exoglycosidase Cleavage and Mass Spectrometry: Detection of Lewis X Structures

Enzymatic sequencing of oligosaccharides provides structural information on sequence of monosaccharides and type of linkage within the oligosaccharide chain. This data can be obtained by stepwise enzymatic digestion of a single, isolated oligosaccharide using individual or mixtures of specific exoglycosidases. N-glycans have to be fractionated from mixtures prior to sequence analysis to assign this type of structural information to a specific glycan. Enzymatic sequencing can as well be applied to oligosaccharide mixtures to evaluate the occurrence of distinct oligosaccharide motives of functional and/or structural interest.Here we describe the application of enzymatic sequence analysis to a mixture of N-glycans released from α1-acid glycoprotein. The experimental conditions are optimized for detection of possible Lewis X structures after stepwise exoglycosidase digestion by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. However, the described method is generally applicable to analyze other structural properties of N-glycans using (respective) specific exoglycosidases.

Separation and Visualization of Glycans by Fluorophore-Assisted Carbohydrate Electrophoresis

Fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis (FACE) is a method in which a fluorophore is covalently attached to the reducing end of carbohydrates, thereby allowing visualization following high-resolution separation by electrophoresis. This method can be used for carbohydrate profiling and sequencing, as well as for the determination of the specificity of carbohydrate-active enzymes. Here, we describe and demonstrate the use of FACE to separate and visualize the glycans released following digestion of oligosaccharides by glycoside hydrolases (GHs) using two examples: (1) the digestion of chitobiose by the streptococcal β-hexosaminidase GH20C, and (2) the digestion of glycogen by the GH13 member SpuA.

Enzymatic sequence analysis of N-glycans by exoglycosidase cleavage and mass spectrometry--detection of Lewis X structures

Enzymatic sequencing of oligosaccharides gives structural information on sequence of monosaccharides and type of linkage within the oligosaccharide chain. This data can be obtained by stepwise enzymatic digestion of a single, isolated oligosaccharide using individual or mixtures of specific exoglycosidases. N-glycans have to be fractionated from mixtures prior to sequence analysis to assign this type of structural information to a specific glycan. Enzymatic sequencing can be applied to oligosaccharide mixtures as well to evaluate the occurrence of distinct oligosac-charide motives of functional and/or structural interest. Here we describe the application of enzymatic sequence analysis to a mixture of N-glycans released from alpha1-acid glycoprotein. The experimental conditions are optimized for detection of possible Lewis X structures after stepwise exoglycosi-dase digestion by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. However, the described method is generally applicable to analyze other structural properties of N-glycans by use of the respective specific exoglycosidases.

Rapid analysis of oligosaccharides derived from glycoproteins by microchip electrophoresis

A novel method for fast profiling of complex oligosaccharides released from glycoproteins based on microchip electrophoresis (mu-CE) is presented here. The characterization of separation conditions, i.e., the composition, concentration and pH of running buffer as well as the applied voltage, has been performed using maltose (G2), cellobiose ( G2'), maltriose (G3) and panose (G3') as oligosaccharide isomer models. In mu-CE, much better separation of oligosaccharide isomers and oligosaccharide ladder was obtained in phosphate buffer than in borate buffer over a wide pH range. Under optimal conditions, high-performance separation of the N-linked complex oligosaccharides released from ribonuclease B, fetuin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) and IgG was achieved using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microchips with an effective separation channel of 30 mm. These results represent the first reported analysis of the N-linked oligosaccharides derived from glycoproteins by mu-CE, indicating that the present mu-CE-based method is a promising alternative for characterization of the N-linked oligosaccharides in glycoproteins.

A transient tobacco expression system coupled to MALDI-TOF-MS allows validation of the impact of differential targeting on structure and activity of a recombinant therapeutic glycoprotein produced in plants

Tobacco-based transient expression was employed to elucidate the impact of differential targeting to subcellular compartments on activity and quality of gastric lipase as a model for the production of recombinant glycoproteins in plants. Overall N-linked glycan structures of recombinant lipase were analyzed and for the first time sugar structures of its four individual N-glycosylation sites were determined in situ by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) on a trypsin digest without isolation or deglycosylation of the peptides. Three glycosylation sites contain both complex-type N-glycans and high-mannose-type structures, the fourth is exclusively linked to high-mannose glycans. Although the overall pattern of glycan structures is influenced by the targeting, our results show that the type of glycans found linked to a given Asn residue is largely influenced by the physico-chemical environment of the site. The transient tobacco system combined with MALDI-TOF-MS appears to be a useful tool for the evaluation of glycoprotein production in plants.

Derivatization of carbohydrates for chromatographic, electrophoretic and mass spectrometric structure analysis

Carbohydrates, either alone or as constituents of glycoproteins, proteoglycans and glycolipids, are mediators of several cellular events and (patho)physiological processes. Progress in the "glycome" project is closely related to the analytical tools used to define carbohydrate structure and correlate structure with function. Chromatography, electrophoresis and mass spectrometry are the indispensable analytical tools of the on-going research. Carbohydrate derivatization is required for most of these analytical procedures. This review article gives an overview of derivatization methods of carbohydrates for their liquid chromatographic and electrophoretic separation, as well as the mass spectrometric characterization. Pre-column and on-capillary derivatization methods are presented with special emphasis on the derivatization of large carbohydrates.

Ultrafast analysis of oligosaccharides on microchip with light-emitting diode confocal fluorescence detection

We have developed a new method for the high-speed separation and high-sensitivity detection of complex oligosaccharides based on microchip electrophoresis (nu-CE) with light-emitting diode (LED) confocal fluorescence detection. Oligosaccharides labeled with 8-aminopyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonate (APTS) were found to strongly adsorb to the surface of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microchips. Accordingly, three classes of major dynamic coating additives were systematically investigated, and cellulose derivatives were found to specifically suppress such adsorption and allow high-performance separation on PMMA chips. Additive concentration, buffer pH and applied field strength were found to be key factors in the high-performance separation& of APTS-labeled oligosaccharides on PMMA chips. Under optimal conditions, 15 oligosaccharides in dextrin hydrolysate can be separated within 45 s with an electrophoretic separation efficiency of over 400 000 theoretical plates per meter. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values of migration times of fourteen oligosaccharides were less than 0.50% between six different channels, and the detection limit for APTS-labeled glucose was about 1.98 x 10(-8) mol/L or 8.61 amol with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 3. The high speed, high efficiency and high sensitivity of this micro-CE-based method indicate that it can be widely applied to analysis of complex oligosaccharides.