Glycan microarrays for screening sialyltransferase specificities

Glycan array: a powerful tool for glycomics studies

Glycan arrays have become a powerful tool for the high-throughput elucidation of interactions of different carbohydrate structures with a wide variety of biological targets, including antibodies, proteins, viruses and cells. This technique is especially suitable for glycomics studies, because arrays present carbohydrate ligands in a manner that mimics interactions at cell-cell interfaces. This review assesses the recent advances involving glycan arrays, including new methods for glycan-array fabrication, new platforms for novel biological information, and new perceptions of glycomics for improving the understanding of disease-related glycobiology. Furthermore, this review attempts to forecast trends in the development of glycan arrays and possible solutions for some remaining challenges to improve this new technology.

Glycomic analysis: an array of technologies

Carbohydrates encode biological information necessary for cellular function. The structural diversity and complexity of these sugar residues have necessitated the creation of novel methodologies for their study. This review highlights recent technological advancements that are starting to unravel the intricate web of carbohydrate biology. New methods for the analysis of both glycoconjugates and glycan structures are discussed. With the use of these innovative tools, the field of glycobiology is poised to take center-stage in the postgenomic era of modern biology and medicine.

Microarrays in glycoproteomics research

Microarrays have been extremely useful for investigating binding interactions among diverse types of molecular species, with the main advantage being the ability to examine many interactions using small amounts of samples and reagents. Microarrays are increasingly being used to advance research in the field of glycobiology. Several types of microarrays are being used in the study of glycans and proteins in glycobiology, including glycan arrays to study the recognition of carbohydrates, lectin arrays to determine carbohydrate expression on purified proteins or on cells, and antibody arrays to examine the variation in particular glycan structures on specific proteins. This article covers the technology and applications of these types of microarrays, and their use for obtaining complementary information on various aspects of glycobiology.

Molecular design of spacer-N-linked sialoglycopolypeptide as polymeric inhibitors against influenza virus infection

A series of spacer-N-linked glycopolymers carrying long/short α2,3/6 sialylated glycan were designed as polymeric inhibitors of influenza virus. Lactose (Lac) and N-acetyllactosamine (LN: Galβ1,4GlcNAc) were first converted to spacer-N-linked disaccharide glycosides, followed by consecutive enzymatic addition of GlcNAc and Gal residues to the glycosides. The resulting spacer-N-linked glycosides with di-, tetra-, and hexasaccharides carrying a Lac, LN, lacto-N-neotetraose (LNnT: Galβ1,4GlcNAcβ1,3Galβ1,4Glc), and LNβ1,3LNnT were coupled to the carboxy group of γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) and enzymatically converted to glycopolypeptides carrying α2,3/6 sialylated glycans. The interactions of a series of sialoglycopolypeptides with avian and human influenza virus strains were investigated using a hemagglutination inhibition assay. The avian virus A/Duck/HongKong/313/4/78 (H5N3) bound specifically, regardless of the structure of the asialo portion. In contrast, human virus A/Aichi/2/68 (H3N2) bound preferentially to long α2,6sialylated glycans with penta- or heptasaccharides in a glycan length-dependent manner. Furthermore, the Sambucus sieboldiana (SNA) lectin was also useful as a model of human virus hemagglutinin (HA) for understanding the carbohydrate binding properties, because the recognition motifs of the inner sugar in the receptor were very similar.

Glycoarrays--tools for determining protein-carbohydrate interactions and glycoenzyme specificity

Carbohydrate arrays (glycoarrays) have recently emerged as a high-throughput tool for studying carbohydrate-binding proteins and carbohydrate-processing enzymes. A number of sophisticated array platforms that allow for qualitative and quantitative analysis of carbohydrate binding and modification on the array surface have been developed, including analysis by fluorescence spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. These platforms, together with examples of biologically-relevant applications are reviewed in this Feature Article.

Carbohydrate arrays as tools for research and diagnostics

In a very short time, carbohydrate microarrays have become important tools to investigate binding events that involve sugars. High throughput analysis of carbohydrate interactions with a wide range of binding partners, including proteins, RNA, whole cells and viruses, can be performed. Questions ranging from simple binding events to in-depth kinetic analysis can be addressed. This tutorial review summarizes methods to produce carbohydrate microarrays as well as their use. Some selected examples illustrate applications and the potential that these tools hold.

Glycan arrays: biological and medical applications

Carbohydrates and their conjugates are involved in various biological events, including viral and bacterial infection, the immune response, differentiation and development, and the progression of tumor cell metastasis. Glycan arrays are a new technology that has enabled the high-sensitivity and rapid analysis carbohydrate–protein interaction and contribute to significant advances in glycomics. Glycan arrays use a minute amount of materials and can be used for high-throughput profiling and quantitative analysis and provide information for the development of carbohydrate-based vaccines and new drug discovery.