Specific synthesis of neurostatin and gangliosides O-acetylated in the outer sialic acids using a sialate transferase.

ABSTRACT: Gangliosides are sialic acid containing glycosphingolipids, commonly found on the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane. O-acetylation of sialic acid hydroxyl groups is one of the most common modifications in gangliosides. Studies on the biological activity of O-acetylated gangliosides have been limited by their scarcity in nature. This comparatively small change in ganglioside structure causes major changes in their physiological properties. When the ganglioside GD1b was O-acetylated in the outer sialic acid, it became the potent inhibitor of astroblast and astrocytoma proliferation called Neurostatin. Although various chemical and enzymatic methods to O-acetylate commercial gangliosides have been described, O-acetylation was nonspecific and produced many side-products that reduced the yie

SUBMITTER: Romero-Ramirez L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3513307 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature