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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Determination of Glucan Chain Length Distribution of Glycogen Using the Fluorophore-Assisted Carbohydrate Electrophoresis FACE Method
Published on: March 31, 2022
Separation and Visualization of Glycans by Fluorophore-Assisted Carbohydrate Electrophoresis
Mélissa Robb1, Joanne K Hobbs1, Alisdair B Boraston2
1Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Abstract:
Fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis (FACE) is a method in which a fluorophore is covalently attached to the reducing end of carbohydrates, thereby allowing high-resolution separation by electrophoresis and visualization. This method can be used for carbohydrate profiling and sequencing, as well as for determining the specificity of carbohydrate-active enzymes. Here we describe and demonstrate the use of FACE to separate and visualize the glycans released following digestion of oligosaccharides by glycoside hydrolases (GHs) using two examples: (i) the digestion of chitobiose by the streptococcal β-hexosaminidase GH20C and (ii) the digestion of glycogen by the GH13 member SpuA.
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