Shotgun functional glycomics of heparan sulphate saccharides: generating diverse libraries to decode biological selectivity

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Complex sugars (glycans) are a highly diverse family of molecules with a broad range of functions in biological processes including cell recognition, adhesion, cell-cell communication and signalling. The study of the glycome - the entire set of glycans expressed by particular cells or tissues - is an emerging field which aims to understand how glycan functions underpin the complexity of human biology, and their involvement in disease processes. The selective interaction of proteins with glycans is one of the keys to their biological functions. A number of new technologies have emerged to support the development of 'glycomics' studies - large-scale studies of glycan structural diversity and the selective interactions of glycans with their matching protein partners which underpins their functions. However, these approaches do not directly reveal functional properties, especially for some complex classes of glycans like the heparan sulphate (HS) family of sulphated glycans which are responsible for regulation of a wide range of biological processes including growth factor signalling, enzyme activity and cell adhesion. We now need to have the tools to ask how specific structures control specific proteins to control biological systems. In this project we propose to develop a new approach to address this question by generating a large library of novel HS glycans with a wide range of structures, and screening them in biological assays, followed by analysis of selected structures. This will permit us to evaluate the structure-activity relationships of HS at higher throughput for the first time. This 'shotgun' library approach will provide a powerful and generic new tool for decoding the function of the HS glycome by allowing specific glycan structures to be matched to specific biological functions. In the future this strategy could provide new information that could be translated into applications in biotechnology and drug development.