title: Occurrence of a nonsulfated chondroitin proteoglycan in the dried saliva of Collocalia swiftlets (edible bird's-nest).
abstract: Despite their wide occurrence, proteoglycans (PGs) have never been isolated from the saliva of higher animals. We found that the Collocalia glycoproteins isolated from edible birds'-nests (the dried forms of regurgitated saliva of male Collocalia swiftlets) were rich in a PG containing nonsulfated chondroitin glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). We have devised a method to isolate a PG from the water extract of the white nest built by Aerodramus fuciphagus (white nest swiftlets) with a yield of 2-mg PG per gram nest. This PG contained 83% of carbohydrates, of which 79% were GalNAc and GlcUA (D-glucuronic acid) in an equimolar ratio. By using chondroitin AC lyase, the structure of GAGs in this PG was established to be chondroitin ( --> 4GlcUAbeta1 --> 3GalNAcbeta1 --> )(n) chains. The average molecular mass of the chondroitin chain was estimated to be 49 kDa by gel filtration. We have isolated a linkage region hexasaccharide, DeltaHexUAalpha1 --> 3GalNAcbeta1 --> 4GlcUAbeta1 --> 3Galbeta1 --> 3Galbeta1 --> 4Xyl, from this PG by chondroitinase ABC digestion to show that the GAGs in this PG are also linked to the core protein through the common tetrasaccharide linker, GlcUAbeta1 --> 3Galbeta1 --> 3Galbeta1 --> 4Xyl, found in various PGs. As water was not effective in extracting uronic acid-containing glycoconjugates from the black nest built by black nest swiftlets (A. maximus), we used 4 M guanidium chloride and anion-exchange chromatography in the presence of urea to extract and isolate about 30 mg of a chondroitin PG preparation from 10 g of the desialylated black nest. As the biological significance of chondroitin is still not well understood, bird's nest should become a convenient source for preparing this unique GAG to study its biological functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Tulane University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Yoichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hama
authors.forename: Toshihisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sumi
authors.forename: Su-Chen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Karol
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maskos
authors.forename: Kittiwan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kalayanamitra
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mizumoto
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugahara
authors.forename: Yu-Teh
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000378:metabolism*; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D002807:Chondroitin / Q000032:analysis*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006601:Hexoses / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000737:chemistry; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000032:analysis*; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D013431:Sulfates / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D006023:Glycoproteins; D006601:Hexoses; D011509:Proteoglycans; D013431:Sulfates; D002807:Chondroitin; D009439:Neuraminidase