The presence, absence or modifications of glycans have great effects on health and disease. The importance of glycans is well recognized in protein folding, cell adhesion and trafficking, fertilization and embryogenesis, immune response, cancer progression, viral and bacterial infections. Yersinia enterocolitica is a species that produces both pathogenic and nonpathogenic serotypes. The O-antigen polysaccharide of Y. enterocolitica serogroup O:3 contains a very rare sugar, namely, 6-deoxy-L-altrose, which is β-(1→2)-linked in the polymer. The conformational aspects of this structure as a function of chain length will be described based on NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. Clostridium botulinum is a pathogenic anaerobic bacterium that produces botulinum neurotoxins, which cause a persistent muscle paralysis in humans. However, due to their paralyzing effect, they are also extensively used to treat a multitude of human diseases. The glycan motifs of gangliosides on neuronal cell surfaces serve as initial co-receptors for botulinum neurotoxins. By means of ligand-based NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and computer simulations we will describe the binding of different sialic acid-containing oligosaccharides to the HC domain of serotype A.

Conformational aspects of oligosaccharides and their interactions with proteins

254th National Meeting (2017)

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