Vitor H Pomin
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Title: Advances in structural biology of glycosaminoglycans by 15N-NMR spectroscopy
Biography
Biography: Vitor H Pomin
Abstract
With the recent developments to enhance sensitivity in solution NMR spectroscopy, such as the advent and spread of high-magnet fields worldwide, cryoprobe technology, isotopic labeling techniques, and new combinations of 2D pulse sequences, a new direction in structural analysis of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) by NMR spectroscopy has emerged. The current scope is the one more dedicated to the less sensitive amide 15N isotope of hexosamines rather than the commonly used anomeric and ring 1H- or 13C-resonances of uronic acids and hexosamines. Given that GAG types are basically classified upon their composing hexosamine types together with the variations of their sulfation patterns, 15N-related NMR studies on native GAGs, oligosaccharides or the different composing amino sugars have proved to be quite informative in both structural or dynamic point-of views, despite the low number of the resultant NMR signals. This in turn reduces significantly chemical shift degeneracy as at the same time facilitates spin/structural assignments. This section is dedicated to cover the principal contributions made so far by solution 15N-NMR spectroscopy toward the progress of the structural biology of GAGs in the current glycomic age.