title: The N-terminal carbohydrate recognition domain of galectin-8 recognizes specific glycosphingolipids with high affinity.
abstract: Galectin-8 is a member of the galectin family and has two tandem repeated carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs). We determined the binding specificities of galectin-8 and its two CRDs for oligosaccharides and glycosphingolipids using ELISA and surface plasmon resonance assays. Galectin-8 had much higher affinity for 3'-O-sulfated or 3'-O-sialylated lactose and a Lewis x-containing glycan than for oligosaccharides terminating in Galbeta1-->3/4GlcNAc. This specificity was mainly attributed to the N-terminal CRD (N-domain), whereas the C-terminal CRD (C-domain) had only weak affinity for a blood group A glycan. The N-domain bound not only to oligosaccharides but also to glycosphingolipids including sulfatide (SM4 s), SM3, sialyl Lc4Cer, SB1a, GD1a, GM3, and sialyl nLc4Cer, suggesting that the N-domain recognizes a 3-O-sulfated or 3-O-sialylated Gal residue. The substitution of the C-3 of the Gal residue in lactose or N-acetyllactosamine with sulfate increased the degree of recognition by galectin-8 more potently than substitution with sialic acid. This is the first demonstration that galectin-8 binds to specific sulfated or sialylated glycosphingolipids with high affinity (KD approximately 10-8-10-9 M). When the Gln47 residue of the N-domain was converted to Ala47, the specific affinity for sulfated or sialylated glycans was selectively lost, indicating that this Gln47 plays important roles for binding to Neu5Acalpha2-->3Gal or SO3--->3Gal residues. The binding ability of galectin-8 to membrane-associated GM3 was confirmed using CHO cells, which predominantly express GM3. Binding of CHO cells to the mutein was significantly lower than to the N-domain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Sasaki Institute, 2-2, Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0062, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ideo
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seko
authors.forename: Ineo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ishizuka
authors.forename: Katsuko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006224:Cricetinae; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D037161:Galectins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006028:Glycosphingolipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019151:Peptide Library; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance; D013737:Testis
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D037161:Galectins; D006028:Glycosphingolipids; C091991:LGALS8 protein, human; D019151:Peptide Library