Novel fast atom bombardment mass spectrometric procedures for glycoprotein analysis.

ABSTRACT

We describe procedures, based upon fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, for characterising the carbohydrate chains in glycoproteins and for determining sites of glycosylation. Strategies for rapidly screening glycoproteins to ascertain the types of sugar chains present and the degree of heterogeneity are presented. Protocols are given for sequencing O- and N-linked glycans. These strategies exploit simple purification steps and afford data at high sensitivity.