Structure of the oligosaccharide chains in human alpha 1-protease inhibitor.

Two glycopeptides were obtained from alpha 1-protease inhibitor after extensive pronase digestion and chromatography on Bio-Gel P-10 and concanavalin A-Sepharose. these glycopeptides were characterized by compositional analysis and sequential exoglycosidase digestion followed at each step by methylation analysis. The partially methylated alditol acetates obtained were resolved by gas chromatography and identified by mass spectrometry. The proposes structures of the oligosaccharide moieties of the glycopeptides are given below. (formula: see text) The relative amounts of the two glycopeptides isolated from concanavalin A-Sepharose suggest that each protein molecule contains four carbohydrate chains; one large chain (A) and three small chains (B).