Masullo Luciano A, Almahayni Karim, Pachmayr Isabelle, Honsa Monique, Heinze Larissa, Fritsche Sarah, Grabmayr Heinrich, Jungmann Ralf, Möckl Leonhard
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Planegg, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2025 Jul 28. doi: 10.1038/s41565-025-01966-5.
Glycobiology is rooted in the study of monosaccharides, ångström-sized molecules that are the building blocks of glycosylation. Glycosylated biomolecules form the glycocalyx, a dense coat encasing every human cell with central relevance-among others-in immunology, oncology and virology. To understand glycosylation function, visualizing its molecular structure is fundamental. However, the ability to visualize the molecular architecture of the glycocalyx has remained challenging. Techniques such as mass spectrometry, electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy lack the necessary cellular context, specificity and resolution. Here we combine resolution enhancement by sequential imaging with metabolic labelling, enabling the visualization of individual sugars within glycans on the cell surface, thus obtaining images of the glycocalyx with a spatial resolution down to 9 Å in an optical microscope.
糖生物学源于对单糖的研究，单糖是埃级大小的分子，是糖基化的基本组成部分。糖基化生物分子形成糖萼，这是一层包裹着每个人体细胞的致密外衣，在免疫学、肿瘤学和病毒学等领域具有核心意义。为了理解糖基化功能，可视化其分子结构至关重要。然而，可视化糖萼分子结构的能力仍然具有挑战性。质谱分析、电子显微镜和荧光显微镜等技术缺乏必要的细胞背景、特异性和分辨率。在这里，我们将顺序成像分辨率增强与代谢标记相结合，能够可视化细胞表面聚糖中的单个糖，从而在光学显微镜下获得空间分辨率低至9埃的糖萼图像。
