Membrane restructuring following in situ sialidase digestion of gangliosides: Complex model bilayers by synchrotron radiation reflectivity

Membrane Adhesion via Glycolipids Occurs for Abundant Saccharide Chemistries

Membrane-bound oligosaccharides with specific chemistries are known to promote tight adhesion between adjacent membranes via the formation of weak saccharide bonds. However, in the literature, one can find scattered evidence that other, more abundant saccharide chemistries exhibit similar behavior. Here, the influence of various glycolipids on the interaction between adjacent membranes is systematically investigated with the help of small- and wide-angle x-ray scattering and complementary neutron diffraction experiments. Added electrostatic repulsion between the membrane surfaces is used to identify the formation of saccharide bonds and to challenge their stability against tensile stress. Some of the saccharide headgroup types investigated are able to bind adjacent membranes together, but this ability has no significant influence on the membrane bending rigidity. Our results indicate that glycolipid-mediated membrane adhesion is a highly abundant phenomenon and therefore potentially of great biological relevance.

Mucin Thin Layers: A Model for Mucus-Covered Tissues

The fate of macromolecules of biological or pharmacological interest that enter the mucus barrier is a current field of investigation. Studies of the interaction between the main constituent of mucus, mucins, and molecules involved in topical transmucoidal drug or gene delivery is a prerequisite for nanomedicine design. We studied the interaction of mucin with the bio-inspired arginine-derived amphoteric polymer d,l-ARGO7 by applying complementary techniques. Small angle X-ray scattering in bulk unveiled the formation of hundreds of nanometer-sized clusters, phase separated from the mucin mesh. Quartz microbalance with dissipation and neutron reflectometry measurements on thin mucin layers deposited on silica supports highlighted the occurrence of polymer interaction with mucin on the molecular scale. Rinsing procedures on both experimental set ups showed that interaction induces alteration of the deposited hydrogel. We succeeded in building up a new significant model for epithelial tissues covered by mucus, obtaining the deposition of a mucin layer 20 Å thick on the top of a glycolipid enriched phospholipid single membrane, suitable to be investigated by neutron reflectometry. The model is applicable to unveil the cross structural details of mucus-covered epithelia in interaction with macromolecules within the Å discreteness.

Scattering Techniques and Ganglioside Aggregates: Laser Light, Neutron, and X-Ray Scattering

Scattering techniques are applied to studying the structural features of ganglioside aggregates in solution. Here it is described how different probing radiations allow to access different structural and dynamical parameters on different lengthscales. Besides a brief but comprehensive description of the scattering measurements, several practical suggestions are given concerning the experiments and the data analysis.

Glycoscience@Synchrotron: Synchrotron radiation applied to structural glycoscience

Synchrotron radiation is the most versatile way to explore biological materials in different states: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, solution, colloids and multiscale architectures. Steady improvements in instrumentation have made synchrotrons the most flexible intense X-ray source. The wide range of applications of synchrotron radiation is commensurate with the structural diversity and complexity of the molecules and macromolecules that form the collection of substrates investigated by glycoscience. The present review illustrates how synchrotron-based experiments have contributed to our understanding in the field of structural glycobiology. Structural characterization of protein–carbohydrate interactions of the families of most glycan-interacting proteins (including glycosyl transferases and hydrolases, lectins, antibodies and GAG-binding proteins) are presented. Examples concerned with glycolipids and colloids are also covered as well as some dealing with the structures and multiscale architectures of polysaccharides. Insights into the kinetics of catalytic events observed in the crystalline state are also presented as well as some aspects of structure determination of protein in solution.