Enzymatic sialylation of N-linked oligosaccharides using an alpha-(2,3)-specific trans-sialidase from Trypanosoma cruzi: structural identification using a three-dimensional elution mapping technique.

alpha-(2,3)-Sialylated biantennary and triantennary oligosaccharides were enzymatically prepared from pyridyl-2-amino-oligosaccharides with terminal Gal residues, using an alpha-(2,3)-specific trans-sialidase from Trypanosoma cruzi (Lee, K. B., and Lee, Y. C. (1994) Anal. Biochem. 216, 358-364). From the pyridyl-2-amino-derivatives of neutral and alpha-(2,6)-monosialylated biantennary oligosaccharides from human fibrinogen, 5 different sialyl biantennary oligosaccharides were obtained. From two different asialo-triantennary oligosaccharides from fetuin, 35 sialyl oligosaccharides were obtained. The trans-sialidase transferred sialic acids effectively and indiscriminately to different galactosyl residues in the different positions on the substrates. Since the starting materials are neutral oligosaccharide of established structure, and the only alpha-(2,3)-sialyl residues are added to the nonreducing Gal terminal residues, the structures of these oligosaccharides could be identified unambiguously by using the three-dimensional mapping technique (Takahashi, N., Nakagawa, H., Fujikawa, K., Kawamura, Y., and Tomiya, N. (1995) Anal. Biochem. 226, 139-146.) in combinations with strategic digestion with beta-galactosidase, beta-N-hexosaminidase, and sialidase L.