Purification and substrate specificity of beta-xylosidase from sycamore cell (Acer pseudoplatanus L.): application for structural analysis of xylose-containing N-linked oligosaccharides.

A beta-xylosidase was purified 51-fold from culture medium of sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.) cells using p-nitrophenyl beta-D-xylopyranoside as a substrate. This enzyme can remove a xylose residue from asparagine-linked oligosaccharides, derivatized with 2-aminopyridine. A pentasaccharide, Xy1 beta 2Man beta 4GlcNAc beta 4(Fuc-alpha 3)GlcNAc was the favorite substrate in N-linked oligosaccharides, but a xylose residue in Xy1 beta 2(Man-alpha 3)Man beta sequence could not be removed by the enzyme. We also propose an efficient method for detection of xylose residue in N-linked oligosaccharides by a combination of the two-dimensional sugar mapping technique and the xylosidase digestion.