The structures of the major sialylated oligosaccharide chains in swine tracheal mucin glycoprotein were established. The oligosaccharide chains were released by treatment with alkaline borohydride and isolated by gel filtration on Bio-Gel P6 columns and chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The neutral oligosaccharide chains in this glycoprotein have been characterized in previous studies (Rana, S.S., Chandrasekaran, E.V., Kennedy, J., and Mendicino, J. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 12899-12907; Chandrasekaran, E.V., Rana, S.S., Davila, M., and Mendicino, J. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 12908-12914). The present study reports the isolation of four monosialylated chains ranging in length from 6 to 14 sugar units, two disialylated chains containing 6 and 12 sugar units, and one trisialylated chain containing 9 sugar units. The structure of the sialylated oligosaccharides was determined by permethylation analysis and sequential hydrolysis with specific exoglycosidases. The following structures (where GalNAcol is N-acetylgalactosaminitol) were assigned to these oligosaccharides.