Glycoproteins: a consideration of the potential problems and their solutions with respect to purification and characterisation.
Glycoproteins, as a class of biomolecules, present a number of differences in structure and function from non-glycosylated proteins. This makes their purification and characterisation a potentially daunting prospect. This article provides a brief summary of the occurrence, structure and composition of glycoproteins and the main areas where these factors may complicate the purification and characterisation process. There follows a review of the range of techniques available, an insight into the choices of ways forward in considering glycoprotein purification and characterisation. Appropriate prominence is given to lectins; their application to the purification, identification and characterisation of glycoproteins, and the major contribution they have made to the study of this class of biomolecules.
Robertson
E R
ER
Research Laboratory for the Chemistry Bioactive Carbohydrates and Proteins, School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, UK.
Kennedy
J F
JF
D000818:Animals; D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient / Q000379:methods; D002845:Chromatography / Q000379:methods; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity / Q000379:methods; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000379:methods; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D037102:Lectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D008970:Molecular Weight
D006023:Glycoproteins; D037102:Lectins