Trisialoganglioside synthesis by a chicken brain sialyltransferase. Comparative study with the similar reaction for the synthesis of disialoganglioside.

An enzyme preparation from embryonic chicken brain catalyzes the transfer of sialic acid from CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid to ceramide-Glc-Gal(NeuAc-NeuAc)-GalNAc-Gal (GDlb) to form ceramide-Glc-Gal(NeuAc-NeuAc)-GalNAc-Gal-NeuAc (GTlb). The sialyltransferase activity was measured during the development of the embryo, the subcellular distribution of this activity was determined and several kinetic properties of the reaction were examined. A comparative study with the similar reaction involved in the transfer of sialic acid to the terminal galactose in ceramide-Glc-Gal(NeuAc)-GalNAc-Gal (GMl) was made. The results obtained in this comparative study suggest that the transfer of sialic acid in both reactions is catalyzed by the same enzyme.