“Shotgun” method allows scientists to analyze the cells of sugar coatings
The approach is described in an article published this week in the journal Nature Methods.The research team was led by Smith, first author Xuezheng Song, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry, and Richard Cummings, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and co-director of the Center Glycomics.
The Emory team used shotgun glycomics to red blood cells, cancer cells and brain-derived lipids. Cummings said the technique could be used to search for a different sugar molecules displayed by cells, for example. Identifying cancer-specific glycans could lead to the same diagnostic tools or therapeutic, he said.
“These blades separate display all glycans in the cell, so you can test this stick to them,” said the lead author, David Smith, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and director of the Center for Glycomics Emory University School of Medicine. “However, the structures of glycans are unknown. That’s why we use” shotgun “the word to describe our approach to their study, almost casual.”
Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have adapted microarray gene chip technology for the study of glycans, with an approach they call “shotgun glycomics.” The Emory team has developed a new chemical method to attach a fluorescent dye glycans purified from cells. Glycans are separated into individual items included in the tiny glass slides.
Complete dissection of glycan structures is more difficult than protein or DNA, because the glycans are branched structures in which all links are chemically identical. Scientists have discovered that cells contain hundreds or thousands of different glycans, which can be attached to proteins or lipids. When using the shotgun approach, if scientists found that the body’s proteins – antibodies or toxins, for example – to bind to specific glycan place, they can then return to this place and determine its full sequence, maintains glycans important among the thousands on the slide.
“A presentation of glycans of a given cell type can be considered as a book in the library with the entire library glycome human,” he said.
Sugar molecules coat every cell of our bodies and play a crucial role in development and disease, but the components of these “glycans” was difficult for scientists to study, because of their complexity.
“The sugars found on glycoproteins and glycolipids may contribute decisively to the function of these molecules,” said Pamela Marino, Ph.D., who oversees grants Glycobiology National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). “Understanding what information is encoded in these sugars and how to facilitate interactions with other proteins has been a major obstacle in deciphering the language of molecular glycans.
This study, funded by NIGMS Eureka high-risk research has provided evidence of principle for a very new approach “shotgun” for the interpretation of this code glycans, and allows the examination of the role of glycans in the infection and immunity. “
