Identification of Glycosylation Sites in Mucin Peptides by Edman Degradation.

Although it is possible to determine and characterize the total carbohydrate profile after release of the mucin oligosaccharides (usually by β-elimination), it is challenging to assign the sites of glycosylation (macroheterogeneity) and the carbohydrate heterogeneity at a given glycosylation site (microheterogeneity). Typically, the characterization of macro- and microheterogeneity has been dependent on the isolation of small peptides with only one glycosylation site. However, this is not possible with high molecular weight, heavily glycosylated domains such as those found in mucins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]