Background: Recognition of terminal sialyldisaccharides by influenza A hemagglutinin initiates the infection process of influenza. Results: MD simulations on sialyldisaccharide-hemagglutinin (H1, H3, H5, and H9) complexes reveal the molecular basis of specific recognition.
Conclusion:The order of the binding specificity of Neu5Ac␣(2-3)Gal and Neu5Ac␣(2-6)Gal is H3 Ͼ H5 Ͼ H9 Ͼ H1 and H1 Ͼ H3 Ͼ H5 Ͼ H9, respectively. Significance: The insights from this study will help in designing carbohydrate-based therapeutics against influenza viral infections.
Sialyldisaccharides are significant terminal components of glycoconjugates and their negative charge and conformation are extensively utilized in molecular recognition processes. The conformation and flexibility of four biologically important sialyldisaccharides [Neu5Acα(2-3)Gal, Neu5Acα(2-6)Gal, Neu5Acα(2-8)Neu5Ac and Neu5Acα(2-9)Neu5Ac] are studied using Molecular Dynamics simulations of 20 ns duration to deduce the conformational preferences of the sialyldisaccharides and the interactions which stabilize the conformations. This study clearly describes the possible conformational models of sialyldisaccharides deduced from 20 ns Molecular Dynamics simulations and our results confirm the role of water in the structural stabilization of sialyldisaccharides. An extensive analysis on the sialyldisaccharide structures available in PDB also confirms the conformational regions found by experiments are detected in MD simulations of 20 ns duration. The three dimensional structural coordinates for all the MD derived sialyldisaccharide conformations are deposited in the 3DSDSCAR database and these conformational models will be useful for glycobiologists and biotechnologists to understand the biological functions of sialic acid containing glycoconjugates.
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