FAQ: What are glycosidases and their uses?

Glycosidases are used to get information about the carbohydrate groups attached to glycoproteins and glycopeptides. They come in two varieties, endoglycosidases that cleave entire carbohydrate groups from proteins and exoglycosidases that remove monosaccharides from the nonreduced ends of the carbohydrate. A reduced end is one generated by an endoglycosidase. Researchers frequently use an endoglycosidase followed by one or more exoglycosidases and then analyze the products using SDS-PAGE or various types of liquid chromatography.