Glycoinformatics-assisted Glycan Interaction Movie

Glycan Interaction Movie: Decoding the Sweet Glycobiology

Glycans are one of the core molecules that make up living organisms, and glycan-glycan or glycan-protein interactions affect a variety of physiological processes in living organisms, such as embryonic development, immunity, and disease. Based on the world's leading glycoinformatics technology and in-depth experience in Glycan Analysis, CD BioGlyco integrates biological and informatics approaches to provide clients with high-quality and accurate glycan interaction analysis services.

Molecular modeling is an important prerequisite for exploring glycan interactions. We use glycoinformatics tools to Integrate, Identify, and Visualize Glycan Structure Data, and generate molecular models of glycans for subsequent interaction measurements.

Classical nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments are effective tools for probing glycan interactions, e.g., ¹H, ¹H-NOESY NMR experiments provide information on the lengths of glycosidic bonds in polysaccharides, and ¹D ¹H, ¹H-T-ROESY or ¹H-ROESY provide information on the lengths of glycosidic bonds in oligosaccharides. Therefore, we use isotope labeling of glycans and employ n D ¹H, ¹³C NMR as well as ¹H, ¹³C-NOESY-HSQC tools to probe glycan interactions.
- At natural abundance, NMR experiments can provide efficient measurements of coupling constants between glycan and ligand (other biomolecules) structures as well as conformational features.
- For example, the conformation of Lewis trisaccharides when bound to lectins can be derived from proton-proton distances in NMR experiments. After obtaining the conformation of the glycan and the bound ligand, the binding information (e.g., binding site) of the ligand recognized by the glycan can be analyzed using saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR experiments, thus highlighting their interactions.
On the other hand, we combine NMR with electron microscopy and artificial intelligence methods to further obtain precise binding rates, binding sites, and dissociation constants between glycan-ligands.
- Meanwhile, our service is suitable for probing the interaction information in the following cases:
- Glycans-glycans
- Glycans-lectins
- Glycan-protein
- Glycan-enzymes
Next, we use informatics technology to input data representing the transformations that occur in glycans into a computer to create glycan interaction movies, which allow clients to understand glycan interactions more accurately and vividly in the context of dynamic behavior.

Process of making a polysaccharide interaction movie. (CD BioGlyco)

Publication Data

Technology: Differential epitope mapping by STD NMR (DEEP-STD NMR)

Journal: JACS Au

IF: 8.5

Published: 2024

Results: In this post, the authors describe a method called DEEP-STD NMR and use it to analyze the interactions of glycans and ligands when they bind. DEEP-STD NMR relies on running paired STD NMR experiments, which, by irradiating the protons of a biomolecule, allows for the identification of differences and calculation of DEEP-STD factors that show the interactions of the glycan and the biomolecule. In addition, the method allows research on the interaction of polar amino acids with exchangeable proton side chains with other molecules. When water is used as an experimental background, the exchangeable protons promote additional saturation transfer, which affects the DEEP-STD factor, which in turn can yield information on the binding of amino acids and other molecules.

Fig.1 A diagram of the glycan interaction analysis. Fig.1 Schematic diagram of two pathways for DEEP-STD NMR probing of glycan interactions. (Widmalm, 2024)

Applications

The process of interaction between glycans can be described using a glycan interaction movie, which can be used to help researchers deeply explore the function of glycans in different environments and understand the operation of glycan systems.
Glycans act as recognition molecules on the cell surface and play an important role in cellular communication and signaling. Therefore, glycan interaction movies can be used to research cell-to-cell interactions and immune responses.
Glycan interaction movie helps to design novel therapeutic drugs. For example, research on the interaction of human growth factors (HGFs) with glycans can help in the development of novel anticancer drugs.

Advantages

We have assembled a multidisciplinary team of biologists, chemists, and computer specialists to accurately explore glycan interactions and create high-quality movies that visualize complex glycan interactions.
Our team has strong data processing and analysis capabilities and translates large-scale data on glycan interactions into visual elements in movies that help clients explore glycan structure and function in depth.
Our professional project management team ensures that the project is completed on time and within budget, ensuring the quality and efficiency of the glycan interaction movie.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of making a movie on glycan interactions?
- These movies are designed to help viewers understand complex biological processes more intuitively by visualizing the interactions between glycans and other molecules, promoting science education and research. In addition, it can help researchers better understand glycan interactions, discover new research directions, and develop more promising applications such as new drug development and disease diagnosis.
What role did glycoinformatics play in the production of these movies?
- Glycoinformatics provides a wealth of data on the structure and interactions of glycans. This data can be used to generate 3D models with animations showing the interactions of glycans with proteins, cells, etc.

CD BioGlyco utilizes glycoinformatics technology to accurately produce glycan interaction movies that demonstrate the interactions between glycans and other biomolecules in a dynamic context. Our glycan interaction movies help biologists, chemists, and a wide range of science enthusiasts better understand the critical role of glycans in disease, vaccine development, and cellular communication. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested or have any questions.

Reference

Widmalm, G. Glycan shape, motions, and interactions explored by NMR spectroscopy. JACS Au. 2024, 4(1): 20-39.

For research use only. Not intended for any diagnostic use.

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