Vasconcelos Ariana A, Pomin Vitor H
Program of Glycobiology, Institute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil.
University Hospital Clementino Fraga Filho, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-913, Brazil.
Microorganisms. 2017 Aug 28;5(3):51. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms5030051.
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are sulfated glycans capable of regulating various biological and medical functions. Heparin, heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate, keratan sulfate and hyaluronan are the principal classes of GAGs found in animals. Although GAGs are all composed of disaccharide repeating building blocks, the sulfation patterns and the composing alternating monosaccharides vary among classes. Interestingly, GAGs from marine organisms can present structures clearly distinct from terrestrial animals even considering the same class of GAG. The holothurian fucosylated chondroitin sulfate, the dermatan sulfates with distinct sulfation patterns extracted from ascidian species, the sulfated glucuronic acid-containing heparan sulfate isolated from the gastropode , and the hybrid heparin/heparan sulfate molecule obtained from the shrimp are some typical examples. Besides being a rich source of structurally unique GAGs, the sea is also a wealthy environment of GAG-resembling sulfated glycans. Examples of these mimetics are the sulfated fucans and sulfated galactans found in brown, red and green algae, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. For adequate visualization, representations of all discussed molecules are given in both Haworth projections and 3D models.
糖胺聚糖(GAGs)是能够调节多种生物学和医学功能的硫酸化聚糖。肝素、硫酸乙酰肝素、硫酸软骨素、硫酸皮肤素、硫酸角质素和透明质酸是在动物体内发现的主要GAGs类别。尽管所有GAGs均由二糖重复结构单元组成,但不同类别之间的硫酸化模式和组成交替单糖各不相同。有趣的是,即使考虑同一类GAG,来自海洋生物的GAGs也可能呈现出与陆地动物明显不同的结构。海参岩藻糖基化硫酸软骨素、从海鞘物种中提取的具有独特硫酸化模式的硫酸皮肤素、从腹足纲动物中分离出的含硫酸化葡萄糖醛酸的硫酸乙酰肝素,以及从虾中获得的杂合肝素/硫酸乙酰肝素分子都是一些典型例子。除了是结构独特的GAGs的丰富来源外,海洋也是富含类似GAGs的硫酸化聚糖的环境。这些模拟物的例子包括在褐藻、红藻、绿藻、海胆和海参中发现的硫酸化岩藻聚糖和硫酸化半乳聚糖。为了便于清晰展示,所有讨论的分子均以哈沃斯投影和三维模型呈现。