Localization of the ganglioside-binding site of fibronectin

It has been demonstrated via biological assays that fibronectin possesses a receptor for gangliosides that is involved in cell adhesion and restoration of the normal morphology of transformed cells. In this study, fluorescence polarization has been employed to monitor the binding of ganglioside oligosaccharide to fibronectin. Parameters involved in ganglioside oligosaccharide binding to fibronectin are described and compared to the interaction of heparin with fibronectin. A Kd of 1.4 X 10(-8) mol/liter has been calculated, and it is demonstrated that labeled ganglioside oligosaccharides can be eluted from fibronectin with either unlabeled ganglioside oligosaccharides or 4 M urea. Using the fluorescence polarization assay developed in this study for measurement of ganglioside binding to fibronectin, it is demonstrated that gangliosides bind to the 31,000-dalton amino terminal heparin-binding domain of fibronectin. A ganglioside-Sepharose affinity column has been constructed which specifically binds the 31,000-dalton amino terminal fragment of fibronectin. The localization of the ganglioside receptor to the amino terminal domain of fibronectin indicates that the ganglioside receptor is distinct from the putative fibronectin cell surface receptor which is located near the center of the fibronectin molecule.     

Cooperative Interactions of Oligosaccharide and Peptide Moieties of a Glycopeptide Derived from IgE with Galectin-9

We previously showed that galectin-9 suppresses degranulation of mast cells through protein-glycan interaction with IgE. To elucidate the mechanism of the interaction in detail, we focused on identification and structural analysis of IgE glycans responsible for the galectin-9-induced suppression using mouse monoclonal IgE (TIB-141). TIB-141 in combination with the antigen induced degranulation of RBL-2H3 cells, which was almost completely inhibited by human and mouse galectin-9. Sequential digestion of TIB-141 with lysyl endopeptidase and trypsin resulted in the identification of a glycopeptide (H-Lys13-Try3; 48 amino acid residues) with a single N-linked oligosaccharide near the N terminus capable of neutralizing the effect of galectin-9 and another glycopeptide with two N-linked oligosaccharides (H-Lys13-Try1; 16 amino acid residues) having lower activity. Enzymatic elimination of the oligosaccharide chain from H-Lys13-Try3 and H-Lys13-Try1 completely abolished the activity. Removal of the C-terminal 38 amino acid residues of H-Lys13-Try3 with glutamyl endopeptidase, however, also resulted in loss of the activity. We determined the structures of N-linked oligosaccharides of H-Lys13-Try1. The galectin-9-binding fraction of pyridylaminated oligosaccharides contained asialo- and monosialylated bi/tri-antennary complex type oligosaccharides with a core fucose residue. The structures of the oligosaccharides were consistent with the sugar-binding specificity of galectin-9, whereas the nonbinding fraction contained monosialylated and disialylated biantennary complex type oligosaccharides with a core fucose residue. Although the oligosaccharides linked to H-Lys13-Try3 could not be fully characterized, these results indicate the possibility that cooperative binding of oligosaccharide and neighboring polypeptide structures of TIB-141 to galectin-9 affects the overall affinity and specificity of the IgE-lectin interaction.     

Chemo-enzymatic synthesis and structure-activity study of artificially N-glycosylated eel calcitonin derivatives with a complex type oligosaccharide

Starting from N-glycosylated eel calcitonin derivatives that contain an N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residue specifically at the 3rd, 14th, 20th or 26th amino acid residue, corresponding glycopeptides with a complex-type oligosaccharide attached to the respective amino acid residue were synthesized by means of a transglycosylation reaction catalyzed by an endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Mucor hiemalis . The use of a recombinant enzyme and an excess of a glycosyl donor led to a yield in excess of 60%. Calcitonin derivatives containing truncated oligosaccharides were also prepared via digestion of the complex-type N-glycan with exoglycosidases. Using these N-glycosylated calcitonin derivatives, the effect of carbohydrate structure and glycosylation site on the three-dimensional structure and the biological activity of the peptide were studied. The conformation of the peptide backbone did not change irrespective of the carbohydrate structure or the glycosylation site. However, hypocalcemic activity, calcitonin-receptor binding activity and the biodistribution of the derivatives were affected by the glycosylation and were dependent on both the carbohydrate structure and the glycosylation site. Although the larger oligosaccharides tended to hinder receptor binding, the biodistribution altered by N-glycosylation appeared to enhance the hypocalcemic activity in some cases, and the magnitude of the effect was dependent on the site of glycosylation.     

Beta-subunits of equine chorionic gonadotropin and lutenizing hormone with an identical amino acid sequence have different asparagine-linked oligosaccharide chains.

The glycoprotein hormones, equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) and lutenizing hormone (eLH), possess a beta-subunit with an identical amino acid sequence. The Asn-linked oligosaccharide chains of eCG beta and eLH beta were quantitatively liberated as tritium-labeled oligosaccharides by hydrazinolysis followed by N-acetylation and NaB3H4-reduction. Paper electrophoresis in combination with sialidase digestion and solvolytic desulfation indicated that eCG beta contained neutral and sialylated oligosaccharides, while eLH beta contained neutral, sialylated, sulfated, and both sialylated and sulfated oligosaccharides. In addition, elution profiles on a Bio-Gel P-4 column of the neutralized oligosaccharide mixtures of eCG beta and eLH beta were different, indicating that the molecular masses of oligosaccharides of the two glycoproteins are different. Therefore, this suggests that the structures of the Asn-linked oligosaccharide chains of eCG beta and eLH beta are different although they have an identical amino acid sequence.     

Glycosylation of internal sugar residues of oligosaccharides catalyzed by alpha-galactosidase from Aspergillus fumigatus

Purified alpha-galactosidase from a thermotolerant fungus Aspergillus fumigatus IMI 385708 was found to catalyze efficiently transgalactosylation reactions using 4-nitrophenyl alpha-D-galactopyranoside as glycosyl donor. Self-transfer reactions with this substrate afforded in low yields several 4-nitrophenyl galactobiosides. Monosaccharides also served as poor glycosyl acceptors. Disaccharides and particularly higher oligosaccharides of alpha-1,4-gluco- (maltooligosaccharides), beta-1,4-gluco- (cellooligosaccharides) and beta-1,4-manno-series were efficiently galactosylated, the latter being the best acceptors that were also doubly galactosylated. With mannooligosaccharides product yields increased with polymerization degree of acceptors reaching 50% at DP of 4-6. Longer oligosaccharide acceptors were galactosylated at internal sugar residues. All galactosyl residues were transferred exclusively to the primary hydroxyl group(s) at C-6 position of oligosaccharide acceptors. This is in accordance with the inability of the enzyme to transfer galactose to beta-1,4-linked xylooligosaccharides. This is the first report of glycosyl transfer reaction to internal sugar residues of oligosaccharides catalyzed by a glycosidase. High affinity to oligosaccharide acceptors also opens a way toward enzymatic glycosylation of polysaccharides, thus modulating their physico-chemical and biological properties.     

Glycosylation of internal sugar residues of oligosaccharides catalyzed by α-galactosidase from Aspergillus fumigatus

Purified α-galactosidase from a thermotolerant fungus Aspergillus fumigatus IMI 385708 was found to catalyze efficiently transgalactosylation reactions using 4-nitrophenyl α-d-galactopyranoside as glycosyl donor. Self-transfer reactions with this substrate afforded in low yields several 4-nitrophenyl galactobiosides. Monosaccharides also served as poor glycosyl acceptors. Disaccharides and particularly higher oligosaccharides of α-1,4-gluco- (maltooligosaccharides), β-1,4-gluco- (cellooligosaccharides) and β-1,4-manno-series were efficiently galactosylated, the latter being the best acceptors that were also doubly galactosylated. With mannooligosaccharides product yields increased with polymerization degree of acceptors reaching 50% at DP of 4–6. Longer oligosaccharide acceptors were galactosylated at internal sugar residues. All galactosyl residues were transferred exclusively to the primary hydroxyl group(s) at C-6 position of oligosaccharide acceptors. This is in accordance with the inability of the enzyme to transfer galactose to β-1,4-linked xylooligosaccharides. This is the first report of glycosyl transfer reaction to internal sugar residues of oligosaccharides catalyzed by a glycosidase. High affinity to oligosaccharide acceptors also opens a way toward enzymatic glycosylation of polysaccharides, thus modulating their physico-chemical and biological properties.     

Mutagenesis of asp-569 of glucosyltransferase I glucansucrase modulates glucan and oligosaccharide synthesis

Glucansucrases of oral streptococci and Leuconostoc mesenteroides are enzymes of medical and biotechnological interest that synthesize alpha-glucans. They can also synthesize oligosaccharides in the presence of a sugar acceptor. Previous reports have identified an amino acid residue that may affect the structure of the glucan product; therefore, random mutagenesis of the corresponding Asp-569 of Streptococcus downei glucosyltransferase I (GTF-I) was used to further understanding of its involvement in the catalytic mechanism and to evaluate how different amino acids can modulate glucan and oligosaccharide synthesis. GTF-I variants were obtained where Asp-569 was replaced by each of the different possible classes of amino acids. These were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by means of a His(6) tag. The results showed that the amino acid in position 569 influences the structure of the glucan and the size of the oligosaccharides produced by GTF-I. The results suggest that the amino acid occupying this position is more likely to interact with the acceptor molecules (oligosaccharides or elongating glucan chain) than to be directly involved in glucosyl transfer from sucrose. Engineering of the equivalent position in glucansucrases thus appears to be a good target to expand the range of oligosaccharides synthesized.     

Amino and hydrazino alkyl benzoates as derivatizing agents for the separation and mass spectrometric analysis of oligosaccharides from bacterial lipooligosaccharides

In an attempt to develop more sensitive and versatile methods for the structure analysis of oligosaccharides derived from lipooligosaccharides (LOS) of gram-negative bacteria, amino and hydrazino alkyl benzoate derivatives were prepared. These oligosaccharide derivatives were separated by HPLC and then analyzed by liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry (LSIMS). Both the amino and hydrazino alkyl benzoates react with the free reducing termini of acid-treated LOS, increasing the hydrophobicity of the released oligosaccharides and allowing them to be separated by reverse-phase HPLC. In addition, these oligosaccharide derivatives now contain a sensitive uv chromophore for subsequent peak detection and improve the quality of the LSIMS spectra compared to underivatized oligosaccharides. However, the amino alkyl benzoates reacted poorly compared to the analogous hydrazino alkyl benzoates with 3-deoxy-manno-2-keto octulosonic acid (KDO), and oligosaccharides with KDO at the reducing terminus, especially when the oligosaccharide also contained phosphoethanolamine. Derivatization with the hydrazino compounds can be carried out quickly and under mild conditions using a minimal amount of reagent, and is therefore suitable for microscale analyses. The chromatographic and mass spectrometric characteristics of these derivatives make them excellent alternatives to permethylation and peracetylation techniques for the structural analysis of complex bacterial oligosaccharides derived from glycolipids.     

A new force-field program for the calculation of glycopeptides and its application to a heptacosapeptide-decasaccharide of immunoglobulin G1. Importance of 1-6-glycosidic linkages in carbohydrate.peptide interactions

Energetically favored conformations of glycopeptide 1 were calculated using the newly developed force-field program, GEGOP (geometry of glycopeptides). The three-dimensional structure of glycopeptide 1, which is part of the Fc fragment of IgG1, has been calculated. 1 contains 27 amino acid residues from Pro291 to Lys317 and a biantennary decasaccharide N-linked to Asn297. The conformations of the peptide and the carbohydrate parts are shown to be mutually dependent. Single glycosyl residues of 1 exhibit interaction energies of up to -31.8 kJ/mol with the peptide portion. Generally, only a few of the glycosyl residues of the oligosaccharide moiety express significant interaction energies with the peptide part. No easy prediction is possible of glycosyl residues which exhibit favorable interaction energies. However, in all of the calculated structures, the glycosyl residues of the 1-6-linked branches show strong attractive forces for the peptide part. 1-6-glycosidically linked branches can adopt a larger number of conformations than other linkages due to their high flexibility which allows more favorable interactions with proteins. We developed the GEGOP program in order to be able to study the preferred conformations of large glycopeptides. The program is based on the GESA (geometry of saccharides) program and utilizes the HSEA (hard sphere exo anomeric) force field for the carbohydrate part and the ECEPP/2 (empirical conformation energy program for peptides) force field [Némethy, G., Pottle, M. S. & Scheraga, H. A. (1983) J. Phys. Chem. 87, 1883-1887] for the peptide part. The GEGOP program allows the simultaneous relaxation of all rotational degrees of freedom of these glycoconjugates during the energy optimization process. Thus, mutual interactions between glycosyl and amino acid residues can be studied in detail.     

New oligosaccharyltransferase assay method

We developed a new in vitro assay for oligosaccharyltransferase (OST), which catalyzes the transfer of preassembled oligosaccharides on lipid carriers onto asparagine residues in polypeptide chains. The asparagine residues reside in the sequon, Asn-X-Thr/Ser, where X can be any amino acid residue except Pro. We demonstrate the potency of our assay using the OST from yeast. In our method, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is used to separate the glycopeptide products from the peptide substrates. The substrate peptide is fluorescently labeled and the formation of glycopeptides is analyzed by fluorescence gel imaging. Two in vitro OST assay methods are now widely used, but both the methods depend on previous knowledge of the oligosaccharide moiety: One method uses lectin binding as the separation mechanism and the other method uses biosynthetically or chemoenzymatically synthesized lipid-linked oligosaccharides as donors. N-linked protein glycosylation is found in all three domains of life, but little is known about the N-glycosylation in Archaea. Thus, our new assay, which does not require a priori knowledge of the oligosaccharides, will be useful in such cases. Indeed, we have detected the OST activity in the membrane fraction from a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Pyrococcus furiosus.     

Selective degradation of the glycosyluroic acid residues of complex carbohydrates by lithium dissolved in ethylenediamine

Lithium metal dissolved in ethylenediamine had been demonstrated to cleave a 3-linked glycosyluronic acid-containing polysaccharide [A. J. Mort and W. D. Bauer, J. Biol. Chem., 257 (1982) 1870–1875]. The present study with model compounds has established that, by lithium treatment, carbohydrates are cleaved at the sites of the glycosyluronic acid residues, regardless of the point at which other glycosyl residues are attached to the glycosyluronic acid residues. Treatment of carbohydrates with lithium metal dissolved in ethylenediamine also results in cleavage of methyl glycosides, reduction of aldoses, and cleavage of methyl ethers and pyruvic acetals of glycosyl residues. Model compounds were used to demonstrate that oligosaccharides containing only neutral glycosyl residues are largely stable to the reaction conditions (except for the reduction of the glycose residue of each oligosaccharide). Thus, a general procedure for the selective cleavage of underivatized carbohydrates at the glycosyluronic acid residues is described.     

Lectin affinity high-performance liquid chromatography. Interactions of N-glycanase-released oligosaccharides with Ricinus communis agglutinin I and Ricinus communis agglutinin II

The structural determinants required for interaction of oligosaccharides with Ricinus communis agglutinin I (RCAI) and Ricinus communis agglutinin II (RCAII) have been studied by lectin affinity high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Homogeneous oligosaccharides of known structure, purified following release from Asn with N-glycanase and reduction with NaBH4, were tested for their ability to interact with columns of silica-bound RCAI and RCAII. The characteristic elution position obtained for each oligosaccharide was reproducible and correlated with specific structural features. RCAI binds oligosaccharides bearing terminal beta 1,4-linked Gal but not those containing terminal beta 1,4-linked GalNAc. In contrast, RCAII binds structures with either terminal beta 1,4-linked Gal or beta 1,4-linked GalNAc. Both lectins display a greater affinity for structures with terminal beta 1,4-rather than beta 1,3-linked Gal, although RCAII interacts more strongly than RCAI with oligosaccharides containing terminal beta 1,3-linked Gal. Whereas terminal alpha 2,6-linked sialic acid partially inhibits oligosaccharide-RCAI interaction, terminal alpha 2,3-linked sialic acid abolishes interaction with the lectin. In contrast, alpha 2,3- and alpha 2,6-linked sialic acid equally inhibit but do not abolish oligosaccharide interaction with RCAII. RCAI and RCAII discriminate between N-acetyllactosamine-type branches arising from different core Man residues of dibranched complex-type oligosaccharides; RCAI has a preference for the branch attached to the alpha 1,3-linked core Man and RCAII has a preference for the branch attached to the alpha 1,6-linked core Man. RCAII but not RCAI interacts with certain di- and tribranched oligosaccharides devoid of either Gal or GalNAc but bearing terminal GlcNAc, indicating an important role for GlcNAc in RCAII interaction. These findings suggest that N-acetyllactosamine is the primary feature required for oligosaccharide recognition by both RCAI and RCAII but that lectin interaction is strongly modulated by other structural features. Thus, the oligosaccharide specificities of RCAI and RCAII are distinct, depending on many different structural features including terminal sugar moieties, peripheral branching pattern, and sugar linkages.     

Enzymatic alpha-glucosaminylation of maltooligosaccharides catalyzed by phosphorylase

This paper describes phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic alpha-glucosaminylation for the direct incorporation of a 2-amino-2-deoxy-alpha-d-glucopyranose unit into maltooligosaccharides. When the reaction of 2-amino-2-deoxy-alpha-d-glucopyranosyl 1-phosphate as the glycosyl donor with maltotetraose as a glycosyl acceptor was performed in the presence of phosphorylase, glucosaminylated oligosaccharides were produced, which were characterized by MALDI-TOF MS measurement after N-acetylation of the crude products. The N-acetylated derivative of the main product in this system was isolated by using HPLC, and its structure was confirmed by MS and (1)H NMR spectra. Furthermore, glucoamylase-catalyzed reaction of the isolated compound provided support that the alpha-glucosamine unit is positioned at the non-reducing end of the oligosaccharide.     

Oligosaccharide units of lysosomal cathepsin D from porcine spleen. Amino acid sequence and carbohydrate structure of the glycopeptides

The amino acid sequences near the glycosylation sites and the oligosaccharide structures have been determined for the lysosomal protease cathepsin D from porcine spleen. Cathepsin D light and heavy chains were separately digested with proteases and the glycopeptides were purified. A single sequence was constructed from the amino acid sequence of the light chain glycopeptides which is: Tyr-Asn-Ser-Gly-Lys-Ser-Ser-Thr-Tyr-Val-Lys-Asn(CH2O)-Gly-Thr-Thr-Phe. A single glycopeptide sequence was also obtained for the heavy chain: Lys-Gly-Ser-Leu-Asp-Tyr-His-Asn(CH2O)-Val-Thr-Arg-Lys-Ala-Tyr. The light chain sequence is homologous with the sequence of porcine pepsin from residues 56 to 71. The heavy chain sequence is homologous with the pepsin sequence from residues 176 to 189. Thus, the 2 oligosaccharide-linked asparagines in cathepsin D correspond to residues 67 and 183 in pepsin and other homologous aspartyl proteases. These positions are located on the surface of the crystal structures of aspartyl proteases. Five oligosaccharides linked to Asn-67 were separated and their structures determined with proton NMR. Four major oligosaccharides are structural variants from the high mannose-type having 3, 5, 6, and 7 mannoses, respectively. A minor structure contained a third GlcNAc. Three oligosaccharide structures were found linked to Asn-183. Two major oligosaccharides are of the high mannose-type each with 5 mannose residues. One of the two contains a fucose linked to a GlcNAc. A third, very minor oligosaccharide contains galactose.     

Crystal structures of beta-galactosidase from Penicillium sp. and its complex with galactose

Beta-galactosidases catalyze the hydrolysis of beta(1-3) and beta(1-4) galactosyl bonds in oligosaccharides as well as the inverse reaction of enzymatic condensation and transglycosylation. Here we report the crystallographic structures of Penicillium sp. beta-galactosidase and its complex with galactose solved by the SIRAS quick cryo-soaking technique at 1.90 A and 2.10 A resolution, respectively. The amino acid sequence of this 120 kDa protein was first assigned putatively on the basis of inspection of the experimental electron density maps and then determined by nucleotide sequence analysis. Primary structure alignments reveal that Penicillium sp. beta-galactosidase belongs to family 35 of glycosyl hydrolases (GHF-35). This model is the first 3D structure for a member of GHF-35. Five distinct domains which comprise the structure are assembled in a way previously unobserved for beta-galactosidases. Superposition of this complex with other beta-galactosidase complexes from several hydrolase families allowed the identification of residue Glu200 as the proton donor and residue Glu299 as the nucleophile involved in catalysis. Penicillium sp. beta-galactosidase is a glycoprotein containing seven N-linked oligosaccharide chains and is the only structure of a glycosylated beta-galactosidase described to date.     

Use of ionically tagged glycosyl donors in the synthesis of oligosaccharide libraries

We have developed a new procedure based on the random glycosyl reaction of a partially benzoylated glycosyl acceptor with a glycosyl donor containing a 4,6-O-(4-methoxycarbonylbenzylidene) protecting group as a masked/caged ion-tag. Glycosylated products are ionically tagged by saponification of the methyl ester and the use of this anion-tag greatly simplifies the separation of the desired oligosaccharides from unreacted or excess glycosyl acceptors as well as from over-glycosylated oligosaccharides. In addition, the use of partially benzoylated acceptors greatly improves their solubility in dichloromethane increasing the yield of product formation and, also, of altering the distribution of positional isomers in favor of products derived by reaction of the donors at hydroxyl groups which otherwise would be considerably less reactive. Using this new approach in random glycosyl reactions, several oligosaccharide libraries were readily prepared in overall yields of 60–70% and the individual positional isomers present in the libraries were identified using the ‘reductive-cleavage’ method.     

Structural study of the asparagine-linked oligosaccharides of lipophorin in locusts

The complete structure of oligosaccharides from locust lipophorin was studied. The asparagine-linked oligosaccharides were first liberated from the protein moiety of lipophorin by digestion with almond glycopeptidase (N-oligosaccharide glycopeptidase, EC 3.5.1.52). Two major oligosaccharides (E and F), separated by subsequent thin-layer chromatography, were analyzed by methylation analysis and 1H-NMR. Based on the experimental data, the whole structure of oligosaccharide E was identified as Man alpha 1----2Man alpha 1----6(Man alpha 1----2Man alpha 1----3) Man alpha 1----6(Man alpha 1----2Man alpha 1----2Man alpha 1----3)Man beta 1----4GlcNAc beta 1----4GlcNAc. The data also revealed that oligosaccharide F is identical with oligosaccharide E in the structure, except for one glucose residue that is linked to the nonreducing terminal Man alpha 1----2 residue.     

Studies on the structure and I-blood-group activity of poly(glycosyl)ceramides.

Employing a modified technique of acetolysis, which allows almost a complete recovery of constituent sugars from poly(glycosyl)ceramides, the glycolipids were found to contain an excess of N-acetylglucosamine over galactose. On the basis of Smith degradation, methylation study, chromium trioxide degradation and the structures of oligosaccharides released from the glycolipids by partial acid hydrolysis, the presence of two types of sugar sequences has been established in poly(glycosyl)ceramides: a) Galbeta1 leads to 4GlcNAcbeta1 leads to 6Gal3 comes from R1 b) Galbeta1 leads to 4GlcNAcbeta1 leads to 4GlcNAc1 leads to R2. The repeating unit of poly(glycosyl)ceramides seems to be the GlcNAcbeta1 leads to 3Gal sequence. The specificity of one anti-I serum (Woj) is directed against the non-reducing ending of the first kind of chain. Three other anti-I sera reacted with inner portions of the oligosaccharide chains of the glycolipids.     

Structural characterization of oligosaccharides isolated from the pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan II

Rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II) is a structurally complex pectic (d-galactosyl-uronic acid-rich) polysaccharide that is present in the primary (growing) cell-walls of higher plants. RG-II is composed of ∼60 glycosyl residues. The isolation and structural characterization of 23 oligosaccharide fragments of the residue of RG-II that remained after removal of hepta- and di-saccharides by partial hydrolysis with acid are reported. In order to obtain the oligosaccharide fragments characterized herein, the carboxyl groups of RG-II were dideuterio-reduced, and the carboxyl-reduced polysaccharide was per-O-methylated. The per-O-methylated polysaccharide was fragmented by partial hydrolysis with acid, producing partially O-methylated oligosaccharides. These derivatized oligosaccharides were reduced, to afford a mixture of partially O-methylated oligoglycosyl-alditols, which was then per-O-methylated. The structures of the resulting per-O-methylated oligoglycosylalditols were determined by chemical-ionization mass spectrometry, electron-impact mass spectrometry, fast-atom-bombardment mass spectrometry, ¹H-n.m.r. spectroscopy, and analysis of corresponding, partially O-acetylated, partially O-methylated alditols. Seventeen of the oligosaccharides isolated from RG-II were parts of a single heptasaccharide, namely.     

Large-scale preparation and characterization of N-linked glycopeptides from bovine fetuin.

A preparative scheme has been developed to purify asialo-glycopeptides from each of the three N-linkage sites of bovine fetuin, allowing the isolation of 100-mumols quantities of asialo-glycopeptides from 20 g of fetuin. The procedure yields seven asialo-glycopeptides which were determined to be 95% homogenous in peptide and oligosaccharide structure. The isolation scheme uses two high-capacity reverse-phase eluant systems. The primary RP-HPLC purification performed with boric acid buffered to pH 7 with triethylamine resolved sialylated tryptic glycopeptides simultaneously on the basis of glycosylation site and degree of sialylation. A second RP-HPLC purification was performed eluting isocratically with dilute phosphoric acid which resolved residual peptide and oligosaccharide heterogeneity from asialo-glycopeptides containing short peptides. Structural characterization of the products was performed utilizing 400-MHz proton NMR spectroscopy and amino acid and monosaccharide analysis. The glycopeptides contain two previously identified variant triantennary oligosaccharides which possess either Gal beta(1----4) or Gal beta(1----3) linkages to N-acetylglucosamine at one terminal branch or a biantennary oligosaccharide. These compounds should prove to be invaluable in studying carbohydrate-protein interactions, such as binding by the Gal/GalNAc lectin of mammalian hepatocytes, in the detailed three-dimensional structural analysis of complex oligosaccharides, and as purified substrates for the study of the action of glycoconjugate-modifying enzymes.