Glycoproteins sugars

Carbohydrates related to membranes can be found as lipopolysaccharides or as parts of glycoproteins. Sugars are often characteristic determinants of cell surfaces (see below). The great majority of carbohydrates are found in the outer leaflet of a membrane, resulting in an asymmetrical structure. This is especially true for many plasma membranes and the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacterial cells (see below). 

The sequence of amino acids in the long chain defines the primary structure of a protein. A secondary structure is determined when several residues, linked by hydrogen bonds, conform to a given combination (e.g., the a-helix, pleated sheet, and P-turns). Tertiary structure refers to the three-dimensional folded conformation of a protein. This is the biologically active conformation (crystal structure). A quaternary structure can result when two or more individual proteins assemble into two or more polypeptide chains. Conjugated proteins are complexes of proteins with other biomolecules, such as glycoproteins (sugar-proteins). 

Shimaoka, H. Abe, A. Glycoprotein sugar chain analysis method. Jpn. Kokai Tokkyo Koho JP 2009156587, 2009. 

Proteins may consist exclusively of a polymeric chain of amino acids these are the simple proteins. Quite often some other chemical component is covalendy bonded to the amino acid chain. Glycoproteins and Hpoproteins contain sugar and Hpid components, respectively. Porphyrins are frequently associated with proteins, eg, in hemoglobin. Proteins bound to other chemical components are called conjugated proteins. Most enzymes are conjugated proteins. 

FIGURE 8.18 Dolichol phosphate is an initiation point for the synthesis of carbohydrate polymers in animals. The analogous alcohol in bacterial systems, undecaprenol, also known as bactoprenol, consists of 11 isoprene units. Undecaprenyl phosphate delivers sugars from the cytoplasm for the synthesis of cell wall components such as peptidoglycans, lipopolysaccharides, and glycoproteins. Polyprenyl compounds also serve as the side chains of vitamin K, the ubiquinones, plastoquinones, and tocopherols (such as vitamin E). 

Another simple sugar that enters glycolysis at the same point as fructose is mannose, which occurs in many glycoproteins, glycolipids, and polysaccharides (Chapter 7). Mannose is also phosphorylated from ATP by hexokinase, and the mannose-6-phosphate thus produced is converted to fructose-6-phosphate by phosphomannoisomerase. 

Figure 5.31 LC-electrospray-MS-MS spectrum of the column eluate at around 22 min in the analysis of the peptide mixture from the tryptic digest of glycoprotein TIME-EA4 from silkworm diapause eggs. Reprinted from Bioorg. Med. Chem., 10, Kurahashi, T., Miyazaki, A., Murakami, Y., Suwan, S., Franz, T., Isobe, M., Tani, M. and Kai, H., Determination of a sugar chain and its linkage site on a glycoprotein TIME-EA4 from silkworm diapause eggs by means of LC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS and MS/MS , 1703-1710, Copyright (2002), with permission from Elsevier Science.

Glycoprotein A protein containing sugar molecules attached to its polypeptide chain. 

Amino Sugars (Hexosamines) Are Components of Glycoproteins, Gangliosides, Glycosaminoglycans... 

Incubation of cultured cells with glycoproteins as radioactive bands Leads to detection of a radioactive sugar after electrophoretic separation. 

Compositional analysis following acid hydrolysis Identifies sugars that the glycoprotein contains and their stoichiometry. 

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