Carbohydrate structures of bovine submaxillary mucin.

The structures of carbohydrate chains derived from bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM) were investigated. Oligosaccharide-alditols released from BSM by alkaline borohydride treatment were separated into three acidic (A-1-A-3) and five neutral (N-1-N-5) oligosaccharide-alditol fractions by liquid chromatography on columns of an ion-exchange resin and Bio-Gel P-4. On the basis of the data obtained on compositional and methylation analyses, and digestion by exoglycosidase, the following structures were assigned to these oligosaccharide-alditols: A-1, alpha-NeuAc (or NeuGc)-(2----6)-GalNAc-ol; A-2, beta-Gal-(1----3)-[alpha-NeuAc-(2----6)]-GalNAc-ol; A-3, beta-GlcNAc-(1----3)-[alpha-NeuAc-(2----6)]-GalNAc-ol; N-1, GalNAc-ol; N-2, beta-Gal-(1----3)-GalNAc-ol; N-3, beta-GlcNAc-(1----3)-GalNAc-ol; N-4, beta-Gal-(1----3)-[beta-GlcNAc-(1----6)]-GalNAc-ol; and N-5, alpha-Fuc-(1----2)-beta-Gal-(1----3)-[beta-GlcNAc-(1----6)]-GalNAc-ol. These results showed the heterogeneous nature of the carbohydrate chains of BSM.