Glycan Phenotype Analysis of Organ-Specific Heparan Sulfate
Heparan sulfate (HS) is a polyanionic, linear polysaccharide that plays a role in many biological functions by modulating the binding activity of extracellular ligands. It is comprised of alternating glucuronic acid (GlcA) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) units and has the general formula [GlcAβ(1,4)GlcNAcα(1,4)]n. This structure may be modified by epimerization of GlcA to iduronic acid and by sulfation of this residue at the 2O- position. The structure can then be 3O-, 6O-, or N-sulfated on GlcN. With a total of 48 possible disaccharide structures, HS represents the most highly variable biological macromolecule. Structural analysis of HS chains is complicated due to the inherent heterogeneity of this compound class. The project seeks to extend the knowledge of HS domain structure through the analysis of tissue-derived HS oligosaccharides by LC/MS.
