NMR investigations of glycan conformation, dynamics, and interactions

Jesús Angulo, Ana Ardá, Sara Bertuzzi, Angeles Canales, June Ereño-Orbea, Ana Gimeno, Marcos Gomez-Redondo, Juan C. Muñoz-García, Paola Oquist, Serena Monaco, Ana Poveda, Luca Unione, Jesús Jiménez-Barbero

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Glycans are ubiquitous in nature, decorating our cells and serving as the initial points of contact with any visiting entities. These glycan interactions are fundamental to host-pathogen recognition and are related to various diseases, including inflammation and cancer. Therefore, understanding the conformations and dynamics of glycans, as well as the key features that regulate their interactions with proteins, is crucial for designing new therapeutics. Due to the intrinsic flexibility of glycans, NMR is an essential tool for unravelling these properties. In this review, we describe the key NMR parameters that can be extracted from the different experiments, and which allow us to deduce the necessary geometry and molecular motion information, with a special emphasis on assessing the internal motions of the glycosidic linkages. We specifically address the NMR peculiarities of various natural glycans, from histo-blood group antigens to glycosaminoglycans, and also consider the special characteristics of their synthetic analogues (glycomimetics). Finally, we discuss the application of NMR protocols to study glycan-related molecular recognition events, both from the carbohydrate and receptor perspectives, including the use of stable isotopes and paramagnetic NMR methods to overcome the inherent degeneracy of glycan chemical shifts.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)97-152
Number of pages56
JournalProgress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Volume144-145
Early online date12 Oct 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2024

Keywords

  • Conformation
  • Glycans
  • Glycoproteins
  • Lectins
  • Molecular recognition

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