Repertoire of Abs primed by bacteria in gnotobiotic mice.

Innate immunity natural Abs (NAbs) execute a number of functions, including protection and surveillance. Despite active research, the stimuli that induce the formation of NAbs are still described only hypothetically. Here, we compared repertoires of anti-glycan Abs in the peripheral blood of mice that received per os various bacteria. The repertoires of Abs of mice primed in this way were compared using a microarray that included about 350 glycans, as well as 150 bacterial polysaccharides. Sterile mice did not possess anti-glycan Abs. Oral inoculation of a single strain or combination of two to four strains of bacteria, as well as putting the animals on short-term nutrition with non-sterile food, did not contribute significantly to the formation of Abs, whereas a single gavage of digested food of non-sterile mice induced the formation of a repertoire close to the natural ones. Interestingly, the priming with polysaccharide Ags (in a composition of the bacterial cell envelope), that is, dominant Ags of bacteria, led to the induction of Abs against typical glycans of mammalian glycoproteins and glycolipids (e.g. Abs of the ABH blood group system) that do not have a structural similarity to the polysaccharides. The results support the importance of early contact with a naïve immune system with microorganisms of the environment to form a normal NAbs repertoire.

Sharing of worldwide distributed carbohydrate-related digital resources: online connection of the Bacterial Carbohydrate Structure DataBase and GLYCOSCIENCES.de.

Functional glycomics, the scientific attempt to identify and assign functions to all glycan molecules synthesized by an organism, is an emerging field of science. In recent years, several databases have been started, all aiming to support deciphering the biological function of carbohydrates. However, diverse encoding and storage schemes are in use amongst these databases, significantly hampering the interchange of data. The mutual online access between the Bacterial Carbohydrate Structure DataBase (BCSDB) and the GLYCOSCIENCES.de portal, as a first reported attempt of a structure-based direct interconnection of two glyco-related databases is described. In this approach, users have to learn only one interface, will always have access to the latest data of both services, and will have the results of both searches presented in a consistent way. The establishment of this connection helped to find shortcomings and inconsistencies in the database design and functionality related to underlying data concepts and structural representations. For the maintenance of the databases, duplication of work can be easily avoided, and will hopefully lead to a better worldwide acceptance of both services within the community of glycoscienists. BCSDB is available at http://www.glyco.ac.ru/bcsdb/ and the GLYCOSCIENCES.de portal at http://www.glycosciences.de/.