Preparation of neoglycolipids with ring-closed cores via chemoselective oxime-ligation for microarray analysis of carbohydrate-protein interactions

Affinities of most oligosaccharide-protein interactions are so low that multivalent forms of ligand and protein are required for detecting interactions. The neoglycolipid (NGL) technology was designed to address the need for microscale presentation of oligosaccharides in a multivalent form for studying carbohydrate-protein interactions, and this is now the basis of a state-of-the-art carbohydrate microarray system. NGL technology involves conjugating oligosaccharides by reductive amination to the aminolipid 1,2-dihexadecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DHPE). Other than ring-opening of the monosaccharide residues at reducing ends, oligosaccharides remain intact, and the NGLs derived from trisaccharides or larger oligosaccharides have performed well for the majority of carbohydrate-recognition systems that have the peripheral or backbone regions of oligosaccharides as recognition motifs. However, ring-opening of reducing end monosaccharides limits applicability to very short oligosaccharides (di- and trisaccharides) and, potentially, to N-glycans recognized by proteins such as Pisum sativum agglutinin (pea lectin) that require both intact core and backbone regions for strong binding. This chapter describes a method for preparing NGLs (designated AO-NGLs) from reducing oligosaccharides by chemoselective oxime-ligation to a new lipid reagent, N-aminooxyacetyl-DHPE. Microarray analyses of the AO-NGL derived from Lewis x (Le(x)) trisaccharide probed with anti-Le(x) antibodies indicate that a significant proportion of the core monosaccharide linked to lipid is in ring-closed form. Thus, AO-NGLs have broadened the applicability of NGLs as probes in studies of carbohydrate-protein interactions.