Two-color glycan labeling of live cells by a combination of Diels-Alder and click chemistry

A Niederwieser, AK Späte, LD Nguyen, C Jüngst… - 2013 - kops.uni-konstanz.de
A Niederwieser, AK Späte, LD Nguyen, C Jüngst, W Reutter, V Wittmann
2013kops.uni-konstanz.de
Protein glycosylation is a complex form of posttranslational modification and has been
shown to be crucial for the function of many proteins. Sialic acid is prominently positioned at
the outer end of membrane glycoproteins. It plays a critical role for the regulation of a myriad
of cellular functions and it forms a shield around the cell. Furthermore, it constantly interacts
with the environment of cells and contributes to histocompatibility.[1] This makes studying
sialylation an interesting field of research, but monitoring sialic acid in vivo is challenging …
Protein glycosylation is a complex form of posttranslational modification and has been shown to be crucial for the function of many proteins. Sialic acid is prominently positioned at the outer end of membrane glycoproteins. It plays a critical role for the regulation of a myriad of cellular functions and it forms a shield around the cell. Furthermore, it constantly interacts with the environment of cells and contributes to histocompatibility.[1] This makes studying sialylation an interesting field of research, but monitoring sialic acid in vivo is challenging. While proteins are routinely labeled by genetic methods, such as expression as GFP fusion proteins, comparable methods are not available for secondary gene products, such as glycans of glycoconjugates. Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering (MOE) is a successful new strategy to visualize the localization of glycans in vitro and in vivo.[2] In this approach, cells are cultivated in the presence of non-natural monosaccharide derivatives that carry a chemical reporter group and are nonetheless accepted by the biosynthetic machinery of a cell. For instance, peracetylated N-azidoacetylmannosamine (Ac4ManNAz) is taken up by the cell, deacetylated by cellular esterases, and owing to the promiscuity of the enzymes of sialic acid biosynthesis, is converted into N-azidoacetyl neuraminic acid and incorporated into sialoglycoconjugates.[3] Once presented on the cell surface, the azide-containing sialylated glycan can be visualized through a bioorthogonal ligation reaction.[4] Besides Ac4ManNAz, several monosaccharide derivatives of N-acetylgalactosamine,[5] N-acetylglucosamine,[6] and L-fucose [7] are suitable for MOE providing further insights into the role of cellular structures and functions of glycans in the cell. Currently, mainly Staudinger ligation [3] and azide–alkyne [3+ 2] cycloaddition (copper-catalyzed [8] or strain-promoted,[9] also known as the click reaction) are applied as ligation reactions in MOE. However, both of them rely on the reaction of azides and thus cannot be used for the concurrent detection of two different metabolically incorporated carbohydrates. A labeling strategy that can be carried out in the presence of azides and alkynes would significantly expand the scope of chemical labeling reactions in living cells and is thus highly desirable.
kops.uni-konstanz.de