Interference of the carbohydrate moiety in coomassie brilliant blue R-250 protein staining

The binding of Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 to several species of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease is affected by the presence of a carbohydrate moiety in the enzyme molecule. Enzymic deglycosylation of several chromatographic fractions of ribonuclease, which have different degrees of glycosylation, results in increased staining by Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250. Ovalbumin and other glycoproteins tested show similar behavior. The results indicate that carbohydrate moieties may represent a common hindrance to the binding of Coomassie Brilliant Blue dyes to glycoproteins.