The Book Corner

Abstract

Recent developments in high-resolution separation techniques based on capillary-scale chromatography and electrophoresis have transformed the analysis of free and conjugated monoand oligosaccharides. In Capillary Electrophoresis of Carbohydrates, hands-on experts describe cutting-edge techniques in capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the analysis of complex carbohydrates. Written in step-by-step detail to ensure successful experimental results, these readily reproducible protocols provide methods for sample preparation and analysis of monoand oligosaccharides, glycoproteins, and glycoconjugates. Glycoconjugates, such as glycoproteins and glycolipids, play important roles in cell–cell interaction events, including development, differentiation, morphogenesis, fertilization, inflammation, and metastasis. A number of reports have documented the association of unique oligosaccharide sequences to protein targeting and folding, and in mechanisms of infection, inflammation, and immunity. For glycoproteins, these glycan appendages are the result of extensive coor post-translational modifications of the nascent proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum and in the Golgi apparatus. Although nucleic acids and proteins are copied from a template in a repeated series of identical steps using the same enzymes, complex carbohydrates are formed by the sequential actions of cellular glycosyltransferases that specifically recognize unique substrates. The molecular biology of these transferases and other carbohydrate-modifying enzymes is providing important insights