Chemoenzymatic preparation of dermatan sulfate oligosaccharides as arylsulfatase B and alpha-L-iduronidase substrates

Proteoglycan sequence

Proteoglycans (PGs) are among the most structurally complex biomacromolecules in nature. They are present in all animal cells and frequently exert their critical biological functions through interactions with protein ligands and receptors. PGs are comprised of a core protein to which one or multiple, heterogeneous, and polydisperse glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains are attached. Proteins, including the protein core of PGs, are now routinely sequenced either directly using proteomics or indirectly using molecular biology through their encoding DNA. The sequencing of the GAG component of PGs poses a considerably more difficult challenge because of the relatively underdeveloped state of glycomics and because the control of their biosynthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi is poorly understood and not believed to be template driven. Recently, the GAG chain of the simplest PG has been suggested to have a defined sequence based on its top-down Fourier transform mass spectral sequencing. This review examines the advances made over the past decade in the sequencing of GAG chains and the challenges the field face in sequencing complex PGs having critical biological functions in developmental biology and pathogenesis.

Electrospray ionization Fourier transform mass spectrometric analysis of intact bikunin glycosaminoglycan from normal human plasma

A mixture of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains from a plasma proteoglycan bikunin was fractionated using native, continuous-elution polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the resulting fractions were analyzed by electrospray ionization Fourier transform mass spectrometry (ESI FTMS). Molecular mass analysis of the intact GAG afforded information about the length and composition of GAG chains in the mixture. Ambiguity in the interpretation of the intact GAG mass spectra was eliminated by conducting an additional experiment in which the GAG chains of known molecular mass were treated with a GAG-degrading enzyme, chondroitinase ABC, and the digestion products were analyzed by ESI FTMS. The plasma bikunin GAG chains consisted predominantly of odd number of saccharides, although few chains consisting of even number of saccharides were also detected. Majority of the analyzed chains were tetrasulfated or pentasulfated and comprised by 29 to 41 monosaccharides.

Carbohydrate post-glycosylational modifications

Carbohydrate modification is a common phenomenon in nature. Many carbohydrate modifications such as some epimerization, O-acetylation, O-sulfation, O-methylation, N-deacetylation, and N-sulfation, take place after the formation of oligosaccharide or polysaccharide backbones. These modifications can be categorized as carbohydrate post-glycosylational modifications (PGMs). Carbohydrate PGMs further extend the complexity of the structures and the synthesis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. They also increase the capacity of the biological regulation that is achieved by finely tuning the structures of carbohydrates. Developing efficient methods to obtain structurally defined naturally occurring oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and glycoconjugates with carbohydrate PGMs is essential for understanding the biological significance of carbohydrate PGMs. Combined with high-throughput screening methods, synthetic carbohydrates with PGMs are invaluable probes in structure-activity relationship studies. We illustrate here several classes of carbohydrates with PGMs and their applications. Recent progress in chemical, enzymatic, and chemoenzymatic syntheses of these carbohydrates and their derivatives are also presented.

Microscale preparation of even- and odd-numbered N-acetylheparosan oligosaccharides

In order to prepare a series of N-acetylheparosan (NAH)-related oligosaccharides, bacterial NAH produced in Escherichia coli strain K5 was partially depolymerized with heparitinase I into a mixture of even-numbered NAH oligosaccharides, having an unsaturated uronic acid (DeltaUA) at the non-reducing end. A mixture of odd-numbered oligosaccharides was derived by removing this DeltaUA in the aforementioned mixture by a 'trimming' reaction using mercury(II) acetate. Each oligosaccharide mixture was subjected to gel-filtration chromatography to generate a series of size-uniform NAH oligosaccharides of satisfactory purity (assessed by analytical anion-exchange HPLC), and their structures were identified by MALDITOF-MS, ESIMS, and 1H NMR analysis. As a result, a microscale preparation of a series of both even- and odd-numbered NAH oligosaccharides was achieved for the first time. The developed procedure is simple and systematic, and thus, should be valuable for providing not only research tools for heparin/heparan sulfate-specific enzymes and their binding proteins, but also precursor substrates with medical applications.