CD BioGlyco has been committed to glycosylation research for many years. We provide glycosylation modification and characterization of cell membranes for our global customers.
The cell membrane is mainly composed of proteins and lipids and acts as a barrier between the cytoplasm and the external environment. Membrane proteins play important roles in cell-to-cell interactions, transfer of ions and metabolites, and cell signaling. Most membrane proteins fold and mature in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus, and their extracellular domains are glycosylated at multiple sites. Glycosylation is increasingly being discovered to influence the structure, function, and interactions of membrane proteins. For example, N-glycosylation aids in membrane protein folding. Therefore, researchers utilize glycomic and glycoproteomic techniques to analyze glycosylation in membrane proteins.
Fig.1 Cellular regulation of glycan expression. (Ohtsubo, 2006)
Typically, the analysis workflow of membrane protein glycosylation includes a cell or tissue lysis, membrane protein enrichment, membrane protein digestion and glycan release, and analysis of glycans and intact glycopeptides. The separation and enrichment methods of membrane protein include differential centrifugation, biotinylation, lectin affinity, two-phase separation, etc. Currently, trypsin is commonly used in membrane protein digestion, but its hydrolysis efficiency is limited due to the hydrophobicity and poor solubility of membrane proteins. Therefore, the digestion efficiency is improved by microwave-assisted digestion, urea, and other methods. Mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) are commonly used methods for the analysis of glycans and glycopeptides, and a better understanding of glycan structure information is obtained by combining MS with other methods.
We use a variety of glycosylation modification strategies to provide customers with custom glycosylation of cell membranes. For example, we glycosylate the murine MC-38 cell line using cyclic carbamate-derived oligosaccharides. The results have shown that incubation of 2-fucosyllactose-cyclic carbamate with MC-38 cells can increase α1,2-fucosylation.
We also provide glycosylation characterization of cell membranes. Our methods include capillary electrophoresis (CE), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography-MS/MS (LC-MS/MS), electrospray ionization MS (ESI-MS), and Fourier ion cyclotron resonance MS (FT-ICR-MS), etc.
CD BioGlyco provides our customers with high-quality, cost-effective, and hassle-free custom glycosylation of cell membranes. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to contact us, we are looking forward to being your indispensable assistant in the glycosylation field.
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