Sialic acids are a family of acidic monosaccharides often found on the termini of cell surface proteins or lipid glycoconjugates of higher animals. Herein we describe the enzymatic synthesis of the two isotopically labeled sialic acid derivatives d₃-X-Gal-α-2,3-Neu5Ac and d₃-X-Gal-α-2,3-Neu5Gc. Using deuterium oxide as the reaction solvent, deuterium atoms could be successfully introduced during the enzymatic epimerization and aldol addition reactions when the sialosides were generated. NMR and mass spectrometric analyses confirmed that the resulting sialosides were indeed tri-deuterated. These compounds may be of interest as internal standards in liquid chromatography/mass spectrometric assays for biochemical or clinical studies of sialic acids. This was further exemplified by the use of this tri-deuterated sialosides as internal standards for the quantification of sialic acids in meat and egg samples.

In this manuscript we address an important gap in our current carbohydrate active enzyme toolbox, by developing a highly a2,6-selective (over a2,3-selective) de facto sialidase that is necessary both for glycan analysis and glycoconjugate remodeling. Both glycosidic linkages are commonly found in animal biology and each has been shown to have distinct biological function. Our approach is novel in that it harnesses the high selectivity of known glycosyltransferases ‘in reverse’ for effective hydrolysis, converting transferases to hydrolases by reaction engineering. More specifically, we demonstrate that the a2,6-specific pseudosialidase activity of Photobacterium sp. JT-ISH-224 a2,6-sialyltransferase can be used effectively for highly a2,6 selective hydrolysis on a broad range of analytes: small synthetic probes, isolated complex glycans and complex mixtures of glycoproteins.

In this manuscript we address an important gap in our current carbohydrate active enzyme toolbox, by developing a highly a2,6-selective (over a2,3-selective) de facto sialidase that is necessary both for glycan analysis and glycoconjugate remodeling. Both glycosidic linkages are commonly found in animal biology and each has been shown to have distinct biological function. Our approach is novel in that it harnesses the high selectivity of known glycosyltransferases ‘in reverse’ for effective hydrolysis, converting transferases to hydrolases by reaction engineering. More specifically, we demonstrate that the a2,6-specific pseudosialidase activity of Photobacterium sp. JT-ISH-224 a2,6-sialyltransferase can be used effectively for highly a2,6 selective hydrolysis on a broad range of analytes: small synthetic probes, isolated complex glycans and complex mixtures of glycoproteins.