Three different populations of sulfated polysaccharides can be found in the cell wall of the red alga Botryocladia occidentalis. In a previous work, the structures of the two more sulfated polysaccharides were revised. In this work, NMR-based structural analysis was performed on the least sulfated polysaccharide and its chemically modified derivatives. Results have revealed the presence of both 4-linked α- and 3-linked β-galactose units having the following chemical features: more than half of the total galactose units are not sulfated, the α-units occur primarily as 3,6-anhydrogalactose units either 2-O-methylated or 2-O-sulfated, and the β-galactose units can be 4-O-sulfated or 2,4-O-disulfated. SPR-based results indicated weaker binding of the least sulfated galactan to thrombin, factor Xa, and antithrombin, but stronger binding to heparin cofactor II than unfractionated heparin. This report together with our previous publication completes the structural characterization of the three polysaccharides found in the cell wall of the red alga B. occidentalis and correlates the impact of their composing chemical groups with the levels of interaction with the blood co-factors.

Three different populations of sulfated polysaccharides can be found in the cell wall of the red alga Botryocladia occidentalis. In a previous work, the structures of the two more sulfated polysaccharides were revised. In this work, NMR-based structural analysis was performed on the least sulfated polysaccharide and its chemically modified derivatives. Results have revealed the presence of both 4-linked α- and 3-linked β-galactose units having the following chemical features: more than half of the total galactose units are not sulfated, the α-units occur primarily as 3,6-anhydro-galactose units either 2-O-methylated or 2-O-sulfated, and the β-galactose units can be 4-O-sulfated or 2,4-O-disulfated. SPR-based results indicated weaker binding of the least sulfated galactan to thrombin, factor Xa, and antithrombin, but stronger binding to heparin cofactor II than unfractionated heparin. This report together with our previous publication completes the structural characterization of the three polysaccharides found in the cell wall of the red alga B. occidentalis and correlates the impact of their composing chemical groups with the levels of interaction with the blood co-factors.

The adhesion of HIV gp120 antigen to human cells is modulated in part by interactions with heparan sulfate. The HXB2 strain of gp120 has been shown to interact with heparin primarily through the V3 loop, although other domains including the C-terminal domain were also implicated. However, the JR-FL strain (representative of CCR5-interacting strains that make up newest infections) was shown to have a drastically lowered affinity to heparin due to the loss of several basic residues in the V3 loop, and deletion of the V3 loop in JR-FL gp120 was shown to abrogate some, but not all, heparin binding. Here, we use high resolution hydroxyl radical protein footprinting to measure the changes in protein surface oxidation levels that result from the binding of a model heparin fragment (fondaparinux). Protection in both the V3 loop and the N-terminus of JR-FP gp120 is observed. The well-defined composition of fondaparinux allowed us to perform docking simulations, which showed two clusters of fondaparinux binding: the V3 loop, and a domain consisting of the N- and C-termini. Together, the experimental and theoretical results indicate the heparin/heparan sulfate binding sites on JR-FL gp120 and the efficient interaction of fondaparinux, a widely exploited therapeutic carbohydrate, on gp120.

Protein oxidative ‘footprinting’— where obtaining structural information of proteins using hydroxyl radical labeling is detected with bottom-up proteomics mass spectrometry analysis—has evolved from an emerging technology to an approach applied to a range of structural biology and biophysics questions. Whether the hydroxyl radicals are generated from hydrogen peroxide (via photolysis, Fenton chemistry, or electrochemistry) or directly from water (through X-ray irradiation, plasma, or gamma rays), the resulting structural information is irreversibly encoded within the protein side chains and can be detected and quantitated with up to single-residue resolution, using a commonly applied set of LC-MS data reduction and analysis protocols. Quantitative measurements of changes in the oxidative labeling of amino acid side chain reflect alterations in solvent accessibility, typically resulting from protein-protein interactions, ligand binding, protein folding/conformational changes, or applied stress. Measuring changes in oxidative labeling thus provides a detailed map of structural changes and interaction sites across the system under study. Oxidative footprinting technologies over the past decade have demonstrated their utility as a mapping method for protein structure analysis in solution and within living cells. The goal of this article is to harmonize and disseminate best practices for experimental design, data collection, data interpretation, and data presentation. This perspective intends to facilitate the application of this insightful approach to new biological systems and experimental applications. The information presented in this article coalesces best practices independently developed by teams who have decades of experience in advancing protein oxidative footprinting. We provide a consensus viewpoint on the use of this technology and the different methodologies for structural elucidation in both academic research and in biopharmaceutical drug discovery and development.

The analysis of membrane protein topography using fast photochemical oxidation of protein (FPOP) has been reported in recent years, but still underrepresented in literature. Based on the hydroxyl radical reactivity of lipids and other amphiphiles, it is believed that the membrane environment acts as a hydroxyl radical scavenger decreasing effective hydroxyl radical doses and resulting in less observed oxidation of proteins. Here, we investigated the effect of bulk hydroxyl radical scavenging in FPOP using both isolated cellular membranes as well as detergent micelles. We found no significant change in radical scavenging activity upon the addition of disrupted cellular membranes with the membrane concentration in the range of 0-25600 cell/μL using an inline radical dosimeter. We confirmed the non-scavenging nature of the membrane with the FPOP results of a soluble model protein in the presence of cell membranes, which showed no significant difference in oxidation with or without membranes. The use of detergents revealed that, while soluble detergent below the critical micelle concentration acts as a potent hydroxyl radical scavenger as expected, additional detergent has little to no hydroxyl radical scavenging effect once the critical micelle concentration is reached. These results suggest that any scavenging effect of membranes or organized amphiphilic membrane mimetics in FPOP experiments are not due to bulk hydroxyl radical scavenging, but may be due to a localized scavenging phenomenon.

Hydroxyl radical protein footprinting (HRPF) is a powerful method for measuring protein topography, allowing researchers to monitor events that alter the solvent accessible surface of a protein (e.g. ligand binding, aggregation, conformational changes, etc.) by measuring changes in the apparent rate of reaction of portions of the protein to hydroxyl radicals diffusing in solution. Fast Photochemical Oxidation of Proteins (FPOP) offers an ultra-fast benchtop method for performing HRPF, photolyzing hydrogen peroxide using a UV laser to generate high concentrations of hydroxyl radicals that are consumed on roughly a microsecond timescale. The broad reactivity of hydroxyl radicals means that almost anything added to the solution (e.g. ligands, buffers, excipients, etc.) will scavenge hydroxyl radicals, altering their half-life and changing the effective radical concentration experienced by the protein. Similarly, minute changes in peroxide concentration, laser fluence, and buffer composition can alter the effective radical concentration, making reproduction of data challenging. Here, we present a simple method for radical dosimetry that can be carried out as part of the FPOP workflow, allowing for measurement of effective radical concentration in real time. Additionally, by modulating the amount of radical generated, we demonstrate that FPOP HRPF experiments carried out in buffers with widely differing levels of hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity can be normalized on the fly, yielding statistically indistinguishable results for the same conformer. This method represents a major step in transforming FPOP into a robust and reproducible technology capable of probing protein structure in a wide variety of contexts.