Direct observation of glycans bonded to proteins and lipids at the single-molecule level

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Anggara, Kelvin; Srsan, Laura; Jaroentomeechai, Thapakorn; Wu, Xu; Rauschenbach, Stephan; Narimatsu, Yoshiki; Clausen, Henrik; Ziegler, Thomas; Miller, Rebecca L.; Kern, Klaus
• 署名单位: Max Planck Society; Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen; University of Copenhagen; University of Oxford; Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-10034
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adh3856
• 发表日期: 2023-10-13
• 页码: 219-+
• 关键词: mass-spectrometry; biological roles; glycosylation; conformation; surface; oligosaccharides; nanoelectrospray; glycopeptides; Visualization; specificity

摘要

Proteins and lipids decorated with glycans are found throughout biological entities, playing roles in biological functions and dysfunctions. Current analytical strategies for these glycan-decorated biomolecules, termed glycoconjugates, rely on ensemble-averaged methods that do not provide a full view of positions and structures of glycans attached at individual sites in a given molecule, especially for glycoproteins. We show single-molecule analysis of glycoconjugates by direct imaging of individual glycoconjugate molecules using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Intact glycoconjugate ions from electrospray are soft-landed on a surface for their direct single-molecule imaging. The submolecular imaging resolution corroborated by quantum mechanical modeling unveils whole structures and attachment sites of glycans in glycopeptides, glycolipids, N-glycoproteins, and O-glycoproteins densely decorated with glycans.