Identification and Characterization of Protein Glycosylation using Specific Endo- and Exoglycosidases

Glycosylation, the addition of covalently linked sugars, is a major post-translational modification of proteins that can significantly affect processes such as cell adhesion, molecular trafficking, clearance, and signal transduction(1-4). In eukaryotes, the most common glycosylation modifications in the secretory pathway are additions at consensus asparagine residues (N-linked); or at serine or threonine residues (O-linked) (Figure 1). Initiation of N-glycan synthesis is highly conserved in eukaryotes, while the end products can vary greatly among different species, tissues, or proteins. Some glycans remain unmodified (high mannose N-glycans) or are further processed in the Golgi (complex N-glycans). Greater diversity is found for O-glycans, which start with a common N-Acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) residue in animal cells but differ in lower organisms(1). The detailed analysis of the glycosylation of proteins is a field unto itself and requires extensive resources and expertise to execute properly. However a variety of available enzymes that remove sugars (glycosidases) makes possible to have a general idea of the glycosylation status of a protein in a standard laboratory setting. Here we illustrate the use of glycosidases for the analysis of a model glycoprotein: recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin beta (hCG beta), which carries two N-glycans and four O-glycans (5). The technique requires only simple instrumentation and typical consumables, and it can be readily adapted to the analysis of multiple glycoprotein samples. Several enzymes can be used in parallel to study a glycoprotein. PNGase F is able to remove almost all types of N-linked glycans(6,7). For O-glycans, there is no available enzyme that can cleave an intact oligosaccharide from the protein backbone. Instead, O-glycans are trimmed by exoglycosidases to a short core, which is then easily removed by O-Glycosidase. The Protein Deglycosylation Mix contains PNGase F, O-Glycosidase, Neuraminidase (sialidase), beta 1-4 Galactosidase, and beta-N-Acetylglucosaminidase. It is used to simultaneously remove N-glycans and some O-glycans(8). Finally, the Deglycosylation Mix was supplemented with a mixture of other exoglycosidases (alpha-N-Acetylgalactosaminidase, alpha 1-2 Fucosidase, alpha 1-3,6 Galactosidase, and beta 1-3 Galactosidase), which help remove otherwise resistant monosaccharides that could be present in certain O-glycans. SDS-PAGE/Coomasie blue is used to visualize differences in protein migration before and after glycosidase treatment. In addition, a sugar-specific staining method, ProQ Emerald-300, shows diminished signal as glycans are successively removed. This protocol is designed for the analysis of small amounts of glycoprotein (0.5 to 2 mu g), although enzymatic deglycosylation can be scaled up to accommodate larger quantities of protein as needed.