Sialic Acid Glycoengineering Using an Unnatural Sialic Acid for the Detection of Sialoglycan Biosynthesis Defects and On-Cell Synthesis of Siglec Ligands

Christian Büll, Torben Heise, Daniëlle M H Beurskens, Moniek Riemersma, Angel Ashikov, Floris P J T Rutjes, Toin H van Kuppevelt, Dirk J Lefeber, Martijn H den Brok, Gosse J Adema, Thomas J Boltje

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sialoglycans play a vital role in physiology, and aberrant sialoglycan expression is associated with a broad spectrum of diseases. Since biosynthesis of sialoglycans is only partially regulated at the genetic level, chemical tools are crucial to study their function. Here, we report the development of propargyloxycarbonyl sialic acid (Ac5NeuNPoc) as a powerful tool for sialic acid glycoengineering. Ac5NeuNPoc showed strongly increased labeling efficiency and exhibited less toxicity compared to those of widely used mannosamine analogues in vitro and was also more efficiently incorporated into sialoglycans in vivo. Unlike mannosamine analogues, Ac5NeuNPoc was exclusively utilized in the sialoglycan biosynthesis pathway, allowing a genetic defect in sialic acid biosynthesis to be specifically detected. Furthermore, Ac5NeuNPoc-based sialic acid glycoengineering enabled the on-cell synthesis of high-affinity Siglec-7 ligands and the identification of a novel Siglec-2 ligand. Thus, Ac5NeuNPoc glycoengineering is a highly efficient, nontoxic, and selective approach to study and modulate sialoglycan interactions on living cells.

Original languageEnglish
JournalACS chemical biology
Volume10
Issue number10
Pages (from-to)2353-63
Number of pages11
ISSN1554-8929
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Oct 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Blotting, Western
  • Carbohydrate Sequence
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Glycoproteins/chemistry
  • Humans
  • Jurkat Cells
  • Ligands
  • Membrane Glycoproteins/chemistry
  • Mice
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • N-Acetylneuraminic Acid/chemistry
  • Polysaccharides/chemistry
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Engineering
  • Sialic Acid Binding Immunoglobulin-like Lectins/chemistry

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