Quantitation of oligosaccharides released by the β-elimination reaction

Abstract

A quantitative micromethod has been described for monitoring the rate and extent of the β-elimination reaction as applied to O-glycosyl-glycoproteins utilizing alkaline tritiated borohydride. The procedure simultaneously labels the released oligosaccharides by their reduction to the corresponding tritiated alditols. The alkaline tritiated borohydride treatment also results in the labeling of the protein moiety of the glycoprotein and this can be quantitatively separated from the carbohydrate moiety on a cation exchange resin; the carbohydrate moiety is not adsorbed, while the protein moiety is adsorbed and then eluted with HCl. The radioactivity in the aqueous eluate of the resin is therefore a direct measure of the amount of oligosaccharides released by the β-elimination reaction. The sensitivity of the method is dependent on the specific activity of the tritiated sodium borohydride used. The stoichiometry of the reaction has been established by the use of N-acetylgalactosaminyl- O-glycoproteins, demonstrating that at the completion of the β-elimination reaction: (a) none of the radioactivity attributable to the protein moiety contaminates the carbohydrate moiety, (b) all the carbohydrate components of the glycoprotein are found in the aqueous eluate from the cationic exchange resin, (c) all the radioactivity in this aqueous eluate is associated with the sugar known to be at the reducing end of the oligosaccharide chain bound to serine or threonine of the glycoprotein (in the examples discussed, N-acetylgalactosamine), and (d) there is no additional hydrolysis of the oligosaccharide chains during the processing.