Oligomannosidic (OM) N-glycans occur as a mixture of isomers, which at early stages of glycosidase trimming also comprise structures with one to three glucose residues. A complementary set of isomers is generated during the biosynthesis of the lipid-linked precursor. Here, we demonstrate the remarkable capacity of liquid chromatography (LC) with porous graphitic carbon and mass spectrometric detection for the determination of OM isomers. Protein-linked N-glycans were released enzymatically from samples with known isomer composition such as kidney bean proteins and ribonuclease B. Lipid-linked oligosaccharides were obtained by a direct mild acid hydrolysis of microsomes thus avoiding biphasic partitioning. A parallel analysis of pyridylaminated glycans by amide-silica and reversed-phase high-performance LC, the application of branch-specific-mannosidases and work with ALG mutant plants led to the assignment of the relative retention times of the isomers occurring during the degradation of the Glc 3Man 9GlcNAc 2 precursor oligosaccharide to Man 5GlcNAc 2 and beyond. A tightly woven net of evidence supports these assignments. Noteworthy, this isomer assignment happens in the course of a comprehensive analysis of all types of a sample's N-glycans.@en

Most plant glycoproteins contain substantial amounts of paucimannosidic N-glycans instead of their direct biosynthetic precursors, complex N-glycans with terminal N-acetylglucosamine residues. We now demonstrate that two β-N-acetyl-hexosaminidases (HEXO1 and HEXO3) residing in different subcellular compartments jointly account for the formation of paucimannosidic N-glycans in Arabidopsis thaliana. Total N-glycan analysis of hexo knock-out plants revealed that HEXO1 and HEXO3 contribute equally to the production of paucimannosidic N-glycans in roots, whereas N-glycan processing in leaves depends more heavily on HEXO3 than on HEXO1. Because hexo1 hexo3 double mutants do not display any obvious phenotype even upon exposure to different forms of abiotic or biotic stress, it should be feasible to improve the quality of glycoprotein therapeutics produced in plants by down-regulation of endogenous β-N-acetylhexosaminidase activities.@en