Glycoprotein Detection by Staining Procedures

Glycoprotein detection is essential for the researches in glycosylation engineering. Be famous for first-in-class technologies and experienced technical team, Creative Biolabs has successfully developed a high-sensitive glycoprotein detection platform to offer the largest and most diverse portfolio of glycoprotein detection products or services. Glycoprotein staining is a simple method we provide to determine whether a protein is glycosylated.

Background of Glycoprotein Analysis

Glycoproteins are extremely important to a variety of biological processes, including protein folding and trafficking, cell-cell and cell-matrix interaction, cellular differentiation, fertilization, immune response, the initiation and metastasis of tumors. However, the analysis of glycoproteins is a big challenge because of the low abundance, the complexity of the glycan structures, the multiple substitutions (microheterogeneity) at glycosylation sites, and the structural diversity associated with the protein backbone itself. We can provide a series of technologies for glycoprotein detection and analysis.

Glycoprotein Detection by Staining Procedures in Creative Biolabs

There are a number of staining methods that can be used to detect highly glycosylated proteins on SDS gels, among which, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining is the simplest and low-cost way to estimate whether a protein is glycosylated.

What Is PAS Staining?

The PAS staining method and its numerous variations are usually used to detect polysaccharides and carbohydrate macromolecules (such as glycoproteins, glycolipids, and proteoglycans) following sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and protein transfer to nitrocellulose membranes. During the staining procedures, periodic acid is used to bind to sugar groups of glycoproteins to overcome the problem that glycan sugar moieties are not reactive to staining or labeling molecules. The periodic acid oxidizes vicinal hydroxyls on sugars (especially sialic acid) to aldehydes or ketones, which reacts with the Schiff reagent to give a magenta color.

Why Choose PAS Staining?

PAS Staining has a lot of advantages, include low cost, simple and rapid operation, high sensitivity, and no need for expensive reagents and special equipment. In the study of detection technology of polysaccharides and glycoproteins, it should have broad application prospects.

Applications of PAS Staining

PAS staining is widely used for both diagnostic and research purposes. Researchers studying glycogen storage diseases or diseases of the basement membrane may routinely use PAS staining to examine the stained tissues to evaluate these respective elements in tissues of interest. Moreover, pathologists often use this stain to help with the diagnosis of glycogen storage diseases, tumors, and fungal infection, etc.

Fig.1 Workflow of PAS staining and PAS histological stain results.

In addition to PAS staining, there are some other staining methods we can provide to address your research needs, mainly including alcian blue staining, silver staining, and fluorescent staining. Each one has its own characteristics and property, fitting for a certain experiment. For example, alcian blue staining is often used for proteins with limited glycosylation, whereas, the silver stain is usually used in cases where high sensitivity is required. Fluorescent staining is more accurate and intuitive, but it requires labeling of electrophoretic samples, costs long processing time. Cationic dyes such as alcian blue or toluidine blue which binds to the negatively charged glycosamino-glycan side chains are highly recommended when detecting proteoglycans.

Why Choose Us?

Specificity
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Consistency
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Working with Us to Promote Your Success!

With years of experience, Creative Biolabs has successfully completed a lot of therapeutic glycoprotein projects, including various glycoprotein staining service. We are committed to providing high-quality glycoprotein detection services and communications to meet your specific project needs. The values of quality, timing and price is our basic criterion. We will try our best to help you get landmark development in your glycoprotein project. If you are interested, please contact us without hesitation.

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