title: Characterisation of a blood-group A-active tetrasaccharide synthesised by a blood-group B gene-specified glycosyltransferase.
abstract: The B gene-specified alpha-D-(1----3)-galactosyltransferase, isolated from the serum of a blood-group B individual, was used to catalyse the transfer of N-acetyl-D-galactosamine from UDP-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine to the blood-group H-active trisaccharide 2'-fucosyllactose. The biosynthetic product had blood-group A activity and its structure was confirmed as alpha-D-GalpNAc-(1----3)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----2)]-beta-D-Galp-(1--- -4)-D-Glc by methylation analysis and high-resolution 1H-n.m.r. spectroscopy. This tetrasaccharide was structurally and serologically identical with that made from the same donor and acceptor substrates when the blood-group A gene-specified alpha-D-(1----3)-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase was used as the enzyme source. The enzyme encoded by the B gene at the blood group ABO locus thus has overlapping donor substrate specificity with the enzyme encoded by the allelic A gene, and this property confers upon the B gene-specified alpha-D-1----3)-galactosyltransferase the potential to synthesise blood-group A-active structures.
mesh_terms: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System / Q000235:genetics*; D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000201:enzymology*; D005700:Galactosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008745:Methylation; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D009844:Oligosaccharides; D005700:Galactosyltransferases; C023155:blood-group-substance alpha-D-galactosyltransferase