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Updated: Dec 11, 2025

Chemo-enzymatic Synthesis of N-glycans for Array Development and HIV Antibody Profiling
Published on: February 5, 2018
Synthesis of Asymmetric N-Glycans as Common Core Substrates for Structural Diversification through Selective
Sujeet Pawar1,2,3, Li Hsu1,4, Thatikonda Narendar Reddy1
1Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang District, Taipei, 11529 Taiwan.
Abstract:
N-glycans on the cell surface provide distinct signatures that are recognized by different glycan-binding proteins (GBPs) and pathogens. Most glycans in humans are asymmetric and isomeric, yet their biological functions are not well understood due to their lack of availability for studies. In this work, we have developed an improved strategy for asymmetric N-glycan assembly and diversification using designed common core substrates prepared chemically for selective enzymatic fucosylation and sialylation. The resulting 26 well-defined glycans that carry the sialic acid residue on different antennae were used in a microarray as a representative application to profile the binding specificity of hemagglutinin (HA) from the avian influenza virus (H5N2). We found distinct binding affinity for the Neu5Ac-Gal epitope linked to the N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) of different branches and only a minor effect in binding for the terminal galactose on different branches. Overall, the microarray analysis showed branch-biased and context-based recognition patterns.
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