title: Species-specificity of amphibia carbohydrate chains: the Bufo viridis case study.
abstract: The jelly coat surrounding the eggs of amphibia is composed of oviducal mucins and plays an important role in the fertilization process. From a structural and chemical point of view, these jellies are very different from one species to another. Bufo viridis is the 13th amphibia species studied in term of carbohydrate structural analysis. The oligosaccharides have been released from the oviducal mucins by reductive beta elimination, purified by various chromatography procedures and analyzed by (1)H and (13)C 1D-2D NMR spectroscopy. Among the 15 compounds, ten have novel structures, although they possess some well-known structural patterns as blood group epitopes (Le(x), Le(y)) or other sequences already observed in other amphibia species. These results reinforce our hypothesis about the strict species-specificity of these carbohydrate chains. It must be noted that such species-specificity does not depend on one particular monosaccharide but it is rather due to a set of particular tri- or tetrasaccharide sequences. Hence, B. viridis species could be characterized by the simultaneous presence of a 2,3,6-trisubstituted galactosyl residue, the GlcNAc(beta 1-3)[Fuc(alpha 1-4)]GlcNAc beta sequence and the Le(x), Le(y) or Cad determinants. The anionic charge of the oligosaccharides is carried only by sialic acid alpha-(2-->6)-linked to GalNAc-ol residue as in Bufo bufo or in Bufo arenarum.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Biologique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille Flandres-Artois, Unité Mixte de Recherche no. 8576, Villeneuve d'Ascq F-59655, France.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coppin
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maes
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Strecker
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians; D000818:Animals; D002025:Bufonidae / Q000378:metabolism*; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D005260:Female; D009077:Mucins / Q000737:chemistry*; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010063:Ovum / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013402:Sugar Alcohols / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009077:Mucins; D009844:Oligosaccharides; D013402:Sugar Alcohols