How much glycosylation is there?

It’s best to analyze monosaccharides, a simple building block of carbohydrates, at the outset of your bigger glycosylation research program. That’s because they will tell you at a high level the quantity and types of glycosylation occurring in your proteins, allowing you to plan more complex research in an informed manner.

We carry out this analysis by identifying N- and O-linked glycans indiscriminately, which basically simplifies the process.

We can also analyse free monosaccharides, such as those that act as buffer components or those found in nutrition.

We carry out all our glycosylation research services in-house, which means we don’t outsource any of it.

And we don’t rely on just one technique but cross-check our findings using several different methods to ensure that our results are correct. This also allows us to look at slightly different aspects of your research or drug development question.

As with sialic acid content, monosaccharide analysis is essentially quite a simple process. You’ll want us to undertake it as part of an in-depth glycosylation research program.

Analyzing the monosaccharide content of a glycoprotein is a key requirement of ICH Q6B.

Technical information

The cores of N- and O-linked glycans are largely composed of neutral monosaccharide building blocks, joined together by a specific stereochemistry. We analyze the stoichiometry and identity of these building blocks quantitatively by using HPAEC-PAD. This allows us to look at both N- and O-linked glycans in one experiment.

Usually, N-linked glycans are attached to the protein backbone by an N-acetylglucosamine, and O-linked -glycans by an O-N-acetylgalactosamine.

Other typical neutral monosaccharides involved in N-linked glycoslyation and O-linked glycosylation are fucose, galactose and mannose.

Note that there are many things we can do to uncover information about monosaccharides, including:

• Analyze monosaccharides released by acidic hydrolysis with HPAEC-PAD
• Investigate intact N- or O-linked glycans by HPAEC-PAD, LC-ESI-MS or MALDI-MS
• Visualize the structural heterogeneity of a glycoprotein using 2D PAGE or intact mass.

Your contact for Monosaccharide at Protagen AG

Dr Katja Aschermann Head of Business Development Protein Services. Her team will be happy to assist you with your project. Phone: +49 (0) 231 9742-6300 Email: salesproteinservices@protagen.de