Determination of ß -Galactooligosaccharides by Liquid Chromatography.

Beta-galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are oligosaccharides normally produced industrially by transgalactosylation of lactose. They are also present naturally in the milk of many animals including humans and cows. GOS are thought to be good for health, being potential prebiotic fibres, and are increasingly added to food products. In order to control the GOS content of products, the AOAC official method 2001.02 was developed. However, the method has some shortcomings and in particular is unsuited to the analysis of products containing high levels of lactose such as infant formula. To overcome this problem, we developed a new method for application to infant formula and tested it on various GOS ingredients as well as infant formulae. When applied to GOS ingredients the results of the new method compare well with those of the official AOAC method, typically giving results in the range 90-110% of those of the official method and having an expanded measurement uncertainty of less than 15%. For three products, the results were outside this range (recoveries of 80-120% and expended measurement uncertainties up to 20%). When applied to the analysis of infant formula, recoveries were in the range of 92-102% and the expanded measurement uncertainties were between 4.2 and 11%.

Lactose does not interfere with the analysis of sialic acids as their 1,2-diamino-4,5-methylenedioxybenzene derivatives.

In 2007, Martin et al. developed a method for the analysis of sialic acids by HPLC following 1,2-diamino-4,5-methylenedioxybenzene (DMB) derivatisation (Martín et al., Anal Bioanal Chem 387:2943-2949, 2007). Within the article, the authors noted that lactose interfered with the analysis, giving erroneously high results when lactose-containing products were analysed. Such an observation is important when analysing milk-based products, yet was contradictory to the observations of Nakamura et al. (Chem Pharm Bull 35(2):687-692, 1987) who demonstrated that DMB was specific for α-keto acids and did not react with simple sugars such as glucose or lactose. In order to clarify the situation, this phenomenon was investigated and it was confirmed that lactose does not interfere with the analysis. However, it was found that most commercial preparations of lactose do contain small amounts of sialic acids, either as the free monosaccharide or bound to lactose in the form of 3'- and 6'-sialyllactose.

Comparative (1)H NMR and molecular modeling study of hydroxy protons of beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Manp-(1-->O)(CH(2))(7)CH(3) analogues in aqueous solution.

The (1)H chemical shifts, coupling constants, temperature coefficients, exchange rates, and inter-residual ROEs have been measured, in aqueous solution, for the hydroxy and amine/amide proton resonances of a set of beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Manp-(1-->O)(CH(2))(7)CH(3) analogues. From the structural data, a few significant structural features could be ascertained, such as a preferential anti-conformation for the amide protons of the N-acetyl and N-propionyl groups. The introduction of systematic modifications at Gal 2-C and Gal 6-C resulted in alterations of the Gal 4-OH, Gal 3-OH, and GlcNAc 3-OH areas, since variations in chemical shifts and temperature coefficient were observed. In order to verify the possibility of hydrogen bonds, molecular dynamics simulations in the gas phase and explicit solvent were performed and correlated with the experimental data. A network of hydrogen bonds to solvent molecules was observed, but no strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding was observed.

Probing the substrate specificity of four different sialyltransferases using synthetic beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Manp-(1-->O) (CH(2))7CH3 analogues general activating effect of replacing N-acetylglucosamine by N-propionylglucosamine.

The acceptor specificities of ST3Gal III, ST3Gal IV, ST6Gal I and ST6Gal II were investigated using a panel of beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Manp-(1-->O)(CH(2))(7)CH(3) analogues. Modifications introduced at either C2, C3, C4, C5, or C6 of terminal D-Gal, as well as N-propionylation instead of N-acetylation of subterminal D-GlcN were tested for their influence on the alpha-2,3- and alpha-2,6-sialyltransferase acceptor activities. Both ST3Gal enzymes displayed the same narrow acceptor specificity, and only accept reduction of the Gal C2 hydroxyl function. The ST6Gal enzymes, however, do not have the same acceptor specificity. ST6Gal II seems less tolerant towards modifications at Gal C3 and C4 than ST6Gal I, and prefers beta-D-GalpNAc-(1-->4)-beta-D-GlcpNAc (LacdiNAc) as an acceptor substrate, as shown by replacing the Gal C2 hydroxyl group with an N-acetyl function. Finally, a particularly striking feature of all tested sialyltransferases is the activating effect of replacing the N-acetyl function of subterminal GlcNAc by an N-propionyl function.

Donor specificity in the glycosylation of Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein: conservation of the Sda determinant in pairs of twins.

The content of the Sd(a) determinant in urinary human Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein (THp) has been reported to be donor-specific. This feature was further addressed by investigating THp from genetically identical individuals. To this end, THp was isolated from the urine of two monozygotic pairs of twins (A and B). The four samples (THp A1, A2, B1, and B2) were subjected to endo-beta-galactosidase from Bacteroides fragilis leading to the liberation of the Neu5Ac(alpha2-3)Gal (beta1-4)GlcNAc(beta1-3)Gal and Neu5Ac(alpha2-3)[GalNAc(beta1-4)] Gal(beta1-4)GlcNAc(beta1-3)Gal (Sd(a) epitope) motifs, both located at the nonreducing termini of complex type N-glycans. The isolated mixtures of oligosaccharides were analyzed for the absolute and relative amounts of the two oligosaccharides. The obtained data clearly indicate that in THp A1 and A2, and in THp B1 and B2, the molar ratios of the tetra- and Sd(a) pentasaccharide are identical for a pair of twins. This conservation of molar ratios points to an identical relative expression of beta-1,4-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase activity involved in the biosynthesis of the Sd(a) determinant. Apparently, the degree of conversion of the tetrasaccharidic Sd(a) precursor into the final pentasaccharidic Sd(a) form can be considered to result from a very closely related pattern of glycosylation for genetically homogeneous individuals.