Definition
The techniques applied to glycan/oligosaccharide/polysaccharide structure and conformation are the same as those used to analyze the protein to which they can be attached (Glycoproteins), but with specific adaptations that have been honed over the years to adapt to the different functional groups of oligosaccharides, their diversity of monosaccharide type, linkages, and branching and anomericity. Monosaccharide analysis methods, mass spectrometry, circular dichroism (Carbohydrate Circular Dichroism), NMR (Carbohydrate NMR Spectroscopy) and X-ray crystallography (X-Ray Diffraction and Crystallography of Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides), and different forms of microscopy all give clues to parts of the structural and conformational puzzle. In some cases, analysis of intact glycoproteins can be carried out. In others, the different biophysical...
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References
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Hounsell, E. (2018). Techniques Applied to Glycan Structure and Conformation. In: Roberts, G., Watts, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Biophysics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_99-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_99-1
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