Synthesis of β-1,4-Linked Galactan Side-Chains of Rhamnogalacturonan I

Synthesis of Mucin O-Glycans Associated with Attenuation of Pathogen Virulence

With the concerning rise in antibiotic-resistant infections, novel treatment options against pathogens are urgently sought. Several recent studies have identified mucin O-glycan mixtures as potent down-regulators of virulence-related gene expression in diverse pathogens. As individual mucin glycans cannot be isolated in sufficient purity and quantity for biological evaluation of discrete structures, we have developed an optimized synthetic approach to generate a small library of mucin glycans which were identified as most likely to display activity. The glycans have been prepared in sufficient quantity to assess biological function, studies of which are currently ongoing.

Synthetic Plant Glycan Microarrays as Tools for Plant Biology

Chemically synthesized plant oligosaccharides have recently evolved as powerful molecular tools for plant cell wall biology. Synthetic plant glycan microarrays equipped with these oligosaccharides enable high-throughput analyses of glycan-binding proteins and carbohydrate-active enzymes. To produce these glycan microarrays, small amounts of glycan solution are printed on suitable surfaces for covalent or non-covalent immobilization. Synthetic plant glycan microarrays have been used for example to map the epitopes of plant cell wall-directed antibodies, to characterize glycosyl hydrolases and glycosyl transferases, and to analyze lectin binding. In this chapter, detailed experimental procedures for the production of synthetic glycan microarrays and their use for the characterization of cell wall glycan-directed antibodies are described.

Engineering the substrate binding site of the hyperthermostable archaeal endo-β-1,4-galactanase from Ignisphaera aggregans

BACKGROUND

Endo-β-1,4-galactanases are glycoside hydrolases (GH) from the GH53 family belonging to the largest clan of GHs, clan GH-A. GHs are ubiquitous and involved in a myriad of biological functions as well as being widely used industrially. Endo-β-1,4-galactanases, in particular hydrolyse galactan and arabinogalactan in pectin, a major component of the primary plant cell wall, with important functions in plant defence and application in the food and other industries. Here, we explore the family's biological diversity by characterizing the first archaeal and hyperthermophilic GH53 galactanase, and utilize it as a scaffold for engineering enzymes with different product lengths.

RESULTS

A galactanase gene was identified in the genome of the anaerobic hyperthermophilic archaeon Ignisphaera aggregans, and the isolated catalytic domain expressed and characterized (IaGal). IaGal presents the typical (βα)₈ barrel structure of clan GH-A enzymes, with catalytic carboxylates at the end of the 4th and 7th barrel strands. Its activity optimum of at least 95 °C and melting point over 100 °C indicate extreme thermostability, a very advantageous property for industrial applications. If enzyme depletion is reduced, so is the need for re-addition, and thus costs. The main stabilizing features of IaGal compared to other structurally characterized members are π-π and cation-π interactions. The length of the substrate binding site-and thus produced oligosaccharide products-is intermediate compared to previously characterized galactanases. Variants inspired by the structural diversity in the GH53 family were rationally designed to shorten or extend the substrate binding groove, in order to modulate product length. Subsite-deleted variants produced shorter products than IaGal, as do the fungal galactanases inspiring the design. IaGal variants engineered with a longer binding site produced a less expected degradation pattern, though still different from that of wild-type IaGal. All variants remained extremely stable.

CONCLUSIONS

We have characterized in detail the most thermophilic endo-β-1,4-galactanase known to date and successfully engineered it to modify the degradation profile, while maintaining much of its desirable thermostability. This is an important achievement as oligosaccharide products length is an important property for industrial and natural GHs alike.

Progress and challenges in the synthesis of sequence controlled polysaccharides

The sequence, length and substitution of a polysaccharide influence its physical and biological properties. Thus, sequence controlled polysaccharides are important targets to establish structure-properties correlations. Polymerization techniques and enzymatic methods have been optimized to obtain samples with well-defined substitution patterns and narrow molecular weight distribution. Chemical synthesis has granted access to polysaccharides with full control over the length. Here, we review the progress towards the synthesis of well-defined polysaccharides. For each class of polysaccharides, we discuss the available synthetic approaches and their current limitations.

Total Synthesis of a Partial Structure from Arabinogalactan and Its Application for Allergy Prevention

Arabinogalactan, a microheterogeneous polysaccharide occurring in plants, is known for its allergy-protective activity, which could potentially be used for preventive allergy treatment. New treatment options are highly desirable, especially in a preventive manner, due to the constant rise of atopic diseases worldwide. The structural origin of the allergy-protective activity of arabinogalactan is, however, still unclear and isolation of the polysaccharide is not feasible for pharmaceutical applications due to a variation of the activity of the natural product and contaminations with endotoxins. Therefore, a pentasaccharide partial structure was selected for total synthesis and subsequently coupled to a carrier protein to form a neoglycoconjugate. The allergy-protective activity of arabinogalactan could be reproduced with the partial structure in subsequent in vivo experiments. This is the first example of a successful simplification of arabinogalactan with a single partial structure while retaining its allergy-preventive potential.

A Glycan Array-Based Assay for the Identification and Characterization of Plant Glycosyltransferases

Growing plants with modified cell wall compositions is a promising strategy to improve resistance to pathogens, increase biomass digestibility, and tune other important properties. In order to alter biomass architecture, a detailed knowledge of cell wall structure and biosynthesis is a prerequisite. We report here a glycan array-based assay for the high-throughput identification and characterization of plant cell wall biosynthetic glycosyltransferases (GTs). We demonstrate that different heterologously expressed galactosyl-, fucosyl-, and xylosyltransferases can transfer azido-functionalized sugar nucleotide donors to selected synthetic plant cell wall oligosaccharides on the array and that the transferred monosaccharides can be visualized "on chip" by a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with an alkynyl-modified dye. The opportunity to simultaneously screen thousands of combinations of putative GTs, nucleotide sugar donors, and oligosaccharide acceptors will dramatically accelerate plant cell wall biosynthesis research.

Microscale thermophoresis as a powerful tool for screening glycosyltransferases involved in cell wall biosynthesis

BACKGROUND

Identification and characterization of key enzymes associated with cell wall biosynthesis and modification is fundamental to gain insights into cell wall dynamics. However, it is a challenge that activity assays of glycosyltransferases are very low throughput and acceptor substrates are generally not available.

RESULTS

We optimized and validated microscale thermophoresis (MST) to achieve high throughput screening for glycosyltransferase substrates. MST is a powerful method for the quantitative analysis of protein-ligand interactions with low sample consumption. The technique is based on the motion of molecules along local temperature gradients, measured by fluorescence changes. We expressed glycosyltransferases as YFP-fusion proteins in tobacco and optimized the MST method to allow the determination of substrate binding affinity without purification of the target protein from the cell lysate. The application of this MST method to the β-1,4-galactosyltransferase AtGALS1 validated the capability to screen both nucleotide-sugar donor substrates and acceptor substrates. We also expanded the application to members of glycosyltransferase family GT61 in sorghum for substrate screening and function prediction.

CONCLUSIONS

This method is rapid and sensitive to allow determination of both donor and acceptor substrates of glycosyltransferases. MST enables high throughput screening of glycosyltransferases for likely substrates, which will narrow down their in vivo function and help to select candidates for further studies. Additionally, this method gives insight into biochemical mechanism of glycosyltransferase function.

Synthesis of Arabinoxylan Oligosaccharides by Preactivation-Based Iterative Glycosylations

A concise synthetic strategy has been developed for assembling densely substituted arabinoxylan oligosaccharides, which are valuable substrates for characterizing hemicellulose-degrading enzymes. The xylan backbone has been prepared by an iterative preactivation-based glycosylation approach with phenyl thioglycosides. The preactivation has been performed with in situ generated p-nitrobenzenesulfenyl triflate prior to addition of the acceptor. The glycosylation temperature was shown to have an important impact on the yield of the coupling. The arabinose substituents have been introduced in one high-yielding glycosylation with an N-phenyl trifluoroacetimidate donor. The strategy has been successfully employed for the synthesis of three heptasaccharides in seven steps and overall yields of 24-36% from the corresponding monosaccharide building blocks.

Review: Plant cell wall biochemical omics: The high-throughput biochemistry for polysaccharide biosynthesis

Progress in the functional biochemical analysis of plant glycosyltransferases (GTs) has been slow because plant GTs are generally membrane proteins, operate as part of larger, multimeric complexes, and utilize a vast complexity of substrate acceptors. Therefore, the field would benefit from development of adequate high throughput expression as well as product detection and characterization techniques. Here we review current approaches to tackle such obstacles and suggest a new path forward: nucleic acid programmable protein arrays (NAPPA) with liquid sample desorption ionization (LS-DESI-MS) mass spectrometry. NAPPA utilizes in vitro transcription and translation to produce epitope-tagged fusion proteins from cloned GT cDNAs. LS-DESI is a soft ionization technique that allows rapid and sensitive MS-based product characterization in situ. Coupling both approaches provides the opportunity to examine individual GT functions as well as protein-protein interactions. Furthermore, advances in automated oligosaccharide synthesis and lipid nanodisc technology should allow testing of plant GT activity in presence of numerous substrate acceptors and lipid environments in a high throughput fashion. Thus, NAPPA-DESI-MS has great potential to make headway in biochemical characterization of the large number of plant GTs.

Practical considerations for printing high-density glycan microarrays to study weak carbohydrate-protein interactions

Interactions of carbohydrates and proteins are essential for many biological processes and glycan microarrays have emerged as powerful tools to rapidly assess these carbohydrate-protein interactions. Diverse platforms to immobilize glycans on glass slides for subsequent probing of the specificities of glycan-binding proteins (GBPs) have evolved. It has been suggested that high local glycan density on microarrays is crucial for detecting low-affinity interactions. To determine the influence of printing efficacy on GBP binding, we compared N-hydroxyl succinimide (NHS)-ester activated glass slides from three different manufacturers and evaluated two different printing buffers. Large differences in binding efficacies of Concanavalin A, peanut agglutinin, and Ricinus communis agglutinin 120 were observed. On some slides, low affinity interactions were missed altogether. Addition of polyethylenglycol (PEG) 400 to the printing buffer significantly enhanced the sensitivity of the binding assays. After monitoring printing efficacy over prolonged printing times, substantial effects resulting from progressing hydrolysis of the NHS-esters during the printing run on one type of slides were found. Printing efficiency of glycans strongly depends on the type of NHS-ester activated slides, the printing buffer, and the printing time. We provide practical advice for selecting the right printing conditions for particular applications.

The Three Members of the Arabidopsis Glycosyltransferase Family 92 are Functional β-1,4-Galactan Synthases

Pectin is a major component of primary cell walls and performs a plethora of functions crucial for plant growth, development and plant-defense responses. Despite the importance of pectic polysaccharides their biosynthesis is poorly understood. Several genes have been implicated in pectin biosynthesis by mutant analysis, but biochemical activity has been shown for very few. We used reverse genetics and biochemical analysis to study members of Glycosyltransferase Family 92 (GT92) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Biochemical analysis gave detailed insight into the properties of GALS1 (Galactan synthase 1) and showed galactan synthase activity of GALS2 and GALS3. All proteins are responsible for adding galactose onto existing galactose residues attached to the rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) backbone. Significant GALS activity was observed with galactopentaose as acceptor but longer acceptors are favored. Overexpression of the GALS proteins in Arabidopsis resulted in accumulation of unbranched β-1, 4-galactan. Plants in which all three genes were inactivated had no detectable β-1, 4-galactan, and surprisingly these plants exhibited no obvious developmental phenotypes under standard growth conditions. RG-I in the triple mutants retained branching indicating that the initial Gal substitutions on the RG-I backbone are added by enzymes different from GALS.

Bifunctional glycosyltransferases catalyze both extension and termination of pectic galactan oligosaccharides

Pectins are the most complex polysaccharides of the plant cell wall. Based on the number of methylations, acetylations and glycosidic linkages present in their structures, it is estimated that up to 67 transferase activities are involved in pectin biosynthesis. Pectic galactans constitute a major part of pectin in the form of side-chains of rhamnogalacturonan-I. In Arabidopsis, galactan synthase 1 (GALS1) catalyzes the addition of galactose units from UDP-Gal to growing β-1,4-galactan chains. However, the mechanisms for obtaining varying degrees of polymerization remain poorly understood. In this study, we show that AtGALS1 is bifunctional, catalyzing both the transfer of galactose from UDP-α-d-Gal and the transfer of an arabinopyranose from UDP-β-l-Ara_p to galactan chains. The two substrates share a similar structure, but UDP-α-d-Gal is the preferred substrate, with a 10-fold higher affinity. Transfer of Ara_p to galactan prevents further addition of galactose residues, resulting in a lower degree of polymerization. We show that this dual activity occurs both in vitro and in vivo. The herein described bifunctionality of AtGALS1 may suggest that plants can produce the incredible structural diversity of polysaccharides without a dedicated glycosyltransferase for each glycosidic linkage.

Synthesis of Two Tetrasaccharide Pentenyl Glycosides Related to the Pectic Rhamnogalacturonan I Polysaccharide

The synthesis of two protected tetrasaccharide pentenyl glycosides with diarabinan and digalactan branching related to the pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan I is reported. The strategy relies on the coupling of N-phenyl trifluoroacetimidate disaccharide donors to a common rhamnosyl acceptor. The resulting trisaccharide thioglycosides were finally coupled to an n-pentenyl galactoside acceptor to access the two protected branched tetrasaccharides.

Synthesis and Application of Branched Type II Arabinogalactans

The synthesis of linear and (1 → 6)-branched β-(1 → 3)-d-galactans, structures found in plant arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs), is described. The synthetic strategy relies on iterative couplings of monosaccharide and disaccharide thioglycoside donors, followed by a late-stage glycosylation of heptagalactan backbone acceptors to introduce branching. A key finding from the synthetic study was the need to match protective groups in order to tune reactivity and ensure selectivity during the assembly. Carbohydrate microarrays were generated to enable the detailed epitope mapping of two monoclonal antibodies known to recognize AGPs: JIM16 and JIM133.

Synthetic plant glycans

For more than a century the primary carbon source for the production of fuels, chemicals and many materials has been fossil resources. Recently, plant polysaccharides from non-food biomass have emerged as a promising renewable alternative that may displace a significant fraction of petroleum-derived products. As a food source, plant polysaccharides can provide beneficial effects on the human immune system in the form of dietary fiber. Despite the strong impact of plant glycans on society and human health, their chemical synthesis remains largely unexplored compared to the synthesis of mammalian and bacterial glycans. Synthetic glycans such as described in this review provide an important toolbox for studying the role of carbohydrates in plant biology and their interaction with human health.

Determining Substrate Specificities of β1,4-Endogalactanases Using Plant Arabinogalactan Oligosaccharides Synthesized by Automated Glycan Assembly

Pectin is a structurally complex plant polysaccharide with many industrial applications in food products. The structural elucidation of pectin is aided by digestion assays with glycosyl hydrolases. We report the automated glycan assembly of oligosaccharides related to the arabinogalactan side chains of pectin as novel biochemical tools to determine the substrate specificities of endogalactanases. Analysis of the digestion products revealed different requirements for the lengths and arabinose substitution pattern of the oligosaccharides to be recognized and hydrolyzed by the galactanases.