Recognition of Ganglioside Receptors by Botulinum Neurotoxin A

In this thesis, within the topic of bioorganic chemistry, the molecular structure of carbohydrates has been studied. Carbohydrates, or glycans, are ubiquitous biomolecules exhibiting a wide range of biological roles. The specific functions of these molecules are largely determined by their interactions with proteins and molecular structure ultimately governs such specialized recognition events.Glycan-binding proteins, such as lectins or enzymes, often interact with their sweet ligands in a transient fashion and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is a viable technique to probe these complexes. In particular, ligand-based NMR techniques have been employed, typically in combination with other biophysical as well as biochemical and computational methods. The aim of this work has been to gain new insights about specific biological systems, to develop methods and to devise protocols for their studies.The first two papers cover NMR-interaction studies of native ligands as well as inhibitor glycans with the enzyme hen egg-white lysozyme and the lectin botulinum neurotoxin type A. Screening experiments were performed to investigate ligand affinities and selectivities. Solution models in combination with X-ray crystal structures were compared in order to evaluate their agreement and the details of interactions.A method for application in carbohydrate ligand NMR-screening was developed in paper three. The heteronucleus selenium was exploited as a reporter of selenoglycosides binding to lectins. 77Se NMR spectroscopy proved sensitive to binding events and the presented approach should be useful in large screenings of glycomimetic inhibitors. In order to obtain sufficient amounts of glycans for bioorganic studies their production often relies on chemical synthesis. In the last paper, the structure of some conformationally highly activated glycosyl donors was thoroughly investigated and related to their reactivity in synthetic glycosylation reactions.