State Key Laboratory of Medical Proteomics, National Chromatographic R. & A. Center, CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, P. R. China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
ACS Nano. 2024 May 14;18(19):12412-12426. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.4c01571. Epub 2024 May 1.
Glycans play vital roles in nearly all life processes of multicellular organisms, and understanding these activities is inseparable from elucidating the biological significance of glycans. However, glycan research has lagged behind that of DNA and protein due to the challenges posed by structural heterogeneity and isomerism (i.e., structures with equal molecular weights) the lack of high-efficiency structural analysis techniques. Nanopore technology has emerged as a sensitive single-molecule biosensor, shining a light on glycan analysis. However, a significant number of glycans are small and uncharged, making it challenging to elicit identifiable nanopore signals. Here we introduce a -binaphthyl tag into glycans, which enhances the cation-π interaction between the derivatized glycan molecules and the nanopore interface, enabling the detection of neutral glycans with an aerolysin nanopore. This approach allows for the distinction of di-, tri-, and tetrasaccharides with monosaccharide resolution and has the potential for group discrimination, the monitoring of enzymatic transglycosylation reactions. Notably, the aerolysin mutant T240R achieves unambiguous identification of six disaccharide isomers, trisaccharide and tetrasaccharide linkage isomers. Molecular docking simulations reveal that multiple noncovalent interactions occur between residues R282, K238, and R240 and the glycans and -binaphthyl tag, significantly slowing down their translocation across the nanopore. Importantly, we provide a demonstration of the kinetic translocation process of neutral glycan isomers, establishing a solid theoretical foundation for glycan nanopore analysis. The development of our technology could promote the analysis of glycan structural isomers and has the potential for nanopore-based glycan structural determination and sequencing.
糖链在多细胞生物的几乎所有生命过程中都发挥着重要作用,而了解这些活动离不开阐明糖链的生物学意义。然而,由于结构异质性和立体异构性(即具有相同分子量的结构)的挑战,以及缺乏高效的结构分析技术,糖链研究一直落后于 DNA 和蛋白质研究。纳米孔技术作为一种灵敏的单分子生物传感器,为糖链分析带来了曙光。然而,大量的糖链体积小且不带电荷,难以产生可识别的纳米孔信号。在这里,我们将 -binaphthyl 标签引入糖链中,增强了衍生糖分子与纳米孔界面之间的阳离子-π 相互作用,从而能够用 aerolysin 纳米孔检测中性糖。这种方法可以区分二糖、三糖和四糖,具有单糖分辨率,并具有基团区分、监测酶转糖苷反应的潜力。值得注意的是,aerolysin 突变体 T240R 能够明确识别六种二糖异构体、三糖和四糖连接异构体。分子对接模拟表明,残基 R282、K238 和 R240 与糖链和 -binaphthyl 标签之间存在多种非共价相互作用,显著减缓了它们在纳米孔中的迁移速度。重要的是,我们提供了中性糖异构体的动力学迁移过程的演示,为糖纳米孔分析奠定了坚实的理论基础。我们技术的发展可以促进糖链结构异构体的分析,并有潜力用于基于纳米孔的糖链结构测定和测序。
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