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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Identification and Characterization of Protein Glycosylation using Specific Endo- and Exoglycosidases
Published on: December 26, 2011
Endoglycosidase and glycoamidase release of N-linked oligosaccharides
Hudson H Freeze1, Christian Kranz
1The Burnham Institute, La Jolla, California, USA.
Abstract:
Nearly all proteins entering the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) become glycosylated en route to a cellular organelle, the plasma membrane, or the extracellular space. Many glycans can be attached to proteins, but the most common are the N-linked oligosaccharides. These chains are added very soon after a protein enters the ER, but they undergo extensive remodeling (processing), especially in the Golgi. Processing changes the sensitivity of the N-glycan to enzymes that cleave entire sugar chains or individual monosaccharides, which also changes the migration of the protein on SDS gels. These changes can be used to indicate when a protein has passed a particular subcellular location. This unit details some of the methods used to track a protein as it traffics from the ER to the Golgi toward its final location.
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