chondroitin-sulfates and anthranilamide

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a linear acidic polysaccharide composed of repeating disaccharide units of glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-d-galactosamine. The polysaccharide is modified with sulfate groups at different positions by a variety of sulfotransferases. CS chains exhibit various biological and pathological functions by interacting with cytokines and growth factors and regulating their signal transduction. The fine structure of the CS chain defines its specific biological roles. However, structural analysis of CS has been restricted to disaccharide analysis, hampering the understanding of the structure-function relationship of CS chains. Here, we chemo-enzymatically synthesized CS dodecasaccharides having various sulfate modifications using a bioreactor system of bacterial chondroitin polymerase mutants and various CS sulfotransferases. We developed a sequencing method for CS chains using the CS dodecasaccharides. The method consists of (i) labeling a reducing end with 2-aminopyridine (PA), (ii) partial digestion of CS with testicular hyaluronidase, followed by separation of PA-conjugated oligosaccharides with different chain lengths, (iii) limited digestion of these oligosaccharides with chondroitin lyase AC II into disaccharides, followed by labeling with 2-aminobenzamide, (iv) CS disaccharide analysis using a dual-fluorescence HPLC system (reversed-phase ion-pair and ion-exchange chromatography), and (v) estimation of the composition by calculating individual disaccharide ratios. This CS chain sequencing allows characterization of CS-modifying enzymes and provides a useful tool toward understanding the structure-function relationship of CS chains.

Topics: Acetylgalactosamine; Aminopyridines; Bacterial Proteins; Bioreactors; Carbohydrate Sequence; Chondroitin Lyases; Chondroitin Sulfates; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Chromatography, Ion Exchange; Disaccharides; Escherichia coli; Glucuronic Acid; Hexosyltransferases; Hyaluronoglucosaminidase; Oligosaccharides; ortho-Aminobenzoates; Sequence Analysis; Staining and Labeling; Sulfotransferases

The glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-protein linkage regions of various proteoglycans share the common tetrasaccharide GlcA-Gal-Gal-Xyl-attached to Ser residues in the core proteins. In previous analysis we demonstrated unique modifications by epimerization, sulfation and phosphorylation of the component sugars. Here we developed a sensitive analytical method for the linkage region oligosaccharides to detect or monitor structural variations and changes. This will be useful for investigation of their biological roles, which are largely unknown, but they have been implicated in biosynthesis. A variety of linkage region-derived hexasaccharides was first prepared as reducing sugar chains from peptide chondroitin/dermatan sulfate of whale cartilage, shark cartilage, and bovine aorta by means of chondroitinase digestion in conjunction with beta-elimination in the absence of reducing reagents, but involving a mild alkali, 0.5 M LiOH, at 4 degrees C to prevent peeling reactions. The structures of these oligosaccharides were determined by the combination of HPLC, enzymatic digestion, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, and (1)H NMR spectroscopy, which revealed eleven different hexasaccharides including a novel structure, DeltaHexAalpha1-3GalNAcbeta1-4IdoAalpha1-3Gal(4-O-sulfate)beta1-3Galbeta1-4Xyl (DeltaHexA and IdoA represent unsaturated hexuronic acid and L-iduronic acid, respectively). These oligosaccharides were labeled with a fluorophore, 2-aminobenzamide, to prepare analytical probes using the recently developed procedure [Kinoshita and Sugahara (1999) Anal. Biochem. 269, 367-378]. The fluorophore-tagged hexasacharides of low picomoles were well separated by HPLC and successfully analyzed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The principle of the method should be applicable to the analysis of the linkage region oligosaccharides derived from heparin and heparan sulfate as well.

Topics: Alkaline Phosphatase; Animals; Carbohydrate Sequence; Cartilage; Cattle; Chondroitin Sulfates; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Dermatan Sulfate; Fluorescent Dyes; Lithium Compounds; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Oligosaccharides; ortho-Aminobenzoates; Sharks; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Whales

A series of disaccharides derived from chondroitin sulfate and heparin/heparan sulfate were derivatized at their reducing ends with a fluorophore 2-aminobenzamide to develop a sensitive microanalytical method for glycosaminoglycans. The resulting labeled compounds derived from chondroitin sulfate or heparin/heparan sulfate were well-separated and quantified by HPLC equipped with a fluorescence detector. The detection limit was a low picomole level. This method was applied to the analysis of the disaccharide composition of tetra- and hexasaccharides derived from chondroitin sulfate and heparin/heparan sulfate as well as these glycosaminoglycan polysaccharides. The method was also successfully applied to the exosequencing of chondrohexasaccharides, where the fluorophore-labeled oligosaccharides were degraded exolytically from the nonreducing ends using bacterial eliminases. The resultant labeled fragments were identified by HPLC.

Topics: Carbohydrate Sequence; Chondroitin Sulfates; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Disaccharides; Fluorescent Dyes; Glycosaminoglycans; Heparin; Heparitin Sulfate; Molecular Sequence Data; Oligosaccharides; ortho-Aminobenzoates; Sensitivity and Specificity