Structure of the major concanavalin A reactive oligosaccharides of the extracellular matrix component laminin

Laminin, a high molecular weight (1,000,000) glycoprotein component of basement membranes, was isolated from the EHS murine tumor as a noncovalent complex with entactin by lectin affinity chromatography using the alpha-D-galactosyl binding lectin Griffonia simplicifolia I (GS I). Entactin was removed from this complex by passage over Sephacryl S-1000 in the presence of SDS. Compositional analysis showed that the affinity-purified laminin contained 25-30% carbohydrate by weight. Methylation analysis revealed that the oligosaccharides of laminin contained bi- and triantennary chains, the blood group I structure, and repeating sequences of 3Gal beta 1,4GlcNAc beta 1 units. Free oligosaccharides were derived from the asparagine-linked glycans of affinity-purified laminin by hydrazinolysis, re-N-acetylation, and reduction with NaB3H4. When fractionated by affinity chromatography on concanavalin A (Con A)-Sepharose, 80% of the oligosaccharides passed through the column unretarded and a single peak corresponding to 20% of the oligosaccharides was adsorbed and specifically eluted with a linear gradient of 0-30 mM methyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside. Further fractionation of the Con A reactive oligosaccharides on GS I-Sepharose demonstrated that 70% of these oligosaccharides possess at least one terminal nonreducing alpha-D-galactopyranosyl unit. The Con A reactive oligosaccharides were subjected to sequential digestion with endo- and exoglycosidases, and the reaction products were analyzed by gel filtration chromatography on a column of Bio-Gel P4. We thereby obtained evidence for a variety of structures not previously reported to exist on murine laminin including hybrid biantennary complex and biantennary complex structures containing poly(lactosaminyl) repeating units. The poly(lactosaminyl) units occur either on one or on both branches of the biantennary chains, as well as in more highly branched blood group I poly(lactosamine) structures. All sialic acid is present as N-acetylneuraminic acid linked alpha 2,3 to galactose.