Characterization of two novel sialyl N-acetyllactosaminyl nucleotides separated from ovine colostrum

The milk/colostrum of some mammalian species is known to contain sugar nucleotides including uridine diphosphate (UDP) oligosaccharides in addition to lactose and milk oligosaccharides, but the detailed structures of these UDP oligosaccharides have not so far been clarified. In this study we isolated two UDP-sialyl N-acetyllactosamines from ovine colostrum and characterized them using 1H-NMR and MALDI-TOFMS spectroscopies. Their structures were found to be Neu5Gc(α2–3)Gal(β1–4)GlcNAcα1-UDP and Neu5Gc(α2–6)Gal(β1–4)GlcNAcα1-UDP.