title: Structural determination of the oligosaccharides in the milk of an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).
abstract: Milk of an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), collected at 11 days post partum, contained 91 g/L of hexose and 3 g/L of sialic acid. The dominant saccharide in this milk sample was lactose, but it also contained isoglobotriose (Glc(alpha1-3)Gal(beta1-4)Glc) as well as a variety of sialyl oligosaccharides. The sialyl oligosaccharides were separated from neutral saccharides by anion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-50 and successive gel chromatography on Bio Gel P-2. They were purified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using an Amide-80 column and characterized by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Their structures were determined to be those of 3'-sialyllactose, 6'-sialyllactose, monofucosyl monosialyl lactose (Neu5Ac(alpha2-3)Gal(beta1-4)[Fuc(alpha1-3)]Glc), sialyl lacto-N-neotetraose c (LST c), galactosyl monosialyl lacto-N-neohexaose, galactosyl monofucosyl monosialyl lacto-N-neohexaose and three novel oligosaccharides as follows: Neu5Ac(alpha2-3)Gal(beta1-4)[Fuc(alpha1-3)]GlcNAc(beta1-3)Gal(beta1-4)Glc, Neu5Ac(alpha2-6)Gal(beta1-4)GlcNAc(beta1-3)Gal(beta1-4)GlcNAc(beta1-3)Gal(beta1-4)Glc, and Neu5Ac(alpha2-3)Gal(beta1-4)[Fuc(alpha1-3)]GlcNAc(beta1-3)Gal(beta1-4)[Fuc(alpha1-3)]GlcNAc(beta1-3)Gal(beta1-4)Glc. The higher oligosaccharides contained only the type II chain (Gal(beta1-4)GlcNAc); this finding differed from previously published data on Asian elephant milk oligosaccharides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioresource Chemistry, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uemura
authors.forename: Sadaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asakuma
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yon
authors.forename: Tadao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Ikichi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Tadasu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Urashima
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D004606:Elephants / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / Q000032:analysis; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid