Analyzing the dynamic bacterial glycome with a lectin microarray approach.

Ku-Lung Hsu; Kanoelani T Pilobello; Lara K Mahal

doi:10.1038/nchembio767

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Analyzing the dynamic bacterial glycome with a lectin microarray approach.

Ku-Lung Hsu·Kanoelani T Pilobello·Lara K Mahal

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Abstract

Glycosylation of bacterial cell surfaces is emerging as a critical factor in symbiosis, pathogenesis, cell-cell interactions and immune evasion. The lack of high-throughput analytical tools to examine bacterial glycans has been a major obstacle to the field and has hindered closer examination of the dynamics of carbohydrate variation. We have recently developed a lectin microarray for the analysis of glycoproteins. Herein we present a rapid analytical system based on this technology for the examination of bacterial glycans. The glycosylation pattern observed distinguishes closely related Escherichia coli strains from one another, providing a facile means of fingerprinting bacteria. In addition, dynamic alterations in the carbohydrate coat of a pathogenic E. coli strain are readily observed. The fast evaluation of real-time alterations in surface-carbohydrate epitopes allows examination of the dynamic role of bacterial sugars in response to external stimuli such as the immune system.

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Bacteria Bacteriological Techniques Fluorescent Dyes Lectins Polysaccharides Protein Array Analysis Sensitivity and Specificity Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Ku-Lung Hsu, Kanoelani T Pilobello, Lara K Mahal. 2006-02-05. Analyzing the dynamic bacterial glycome with a lectin microarray approach.. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio767

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