Studies of the Ligand Binding to Cholera Toxin, II. The hydrophilic moiety of sialoglycolipids

Abstract
The binding between cholera toxin or its B-protein subunit and various ganglioside-related oligosaccharides was studied by equilibrium displacement dialysis. At low concentrations of ligand, the binding of monosialo-gangliotetraitol exceeded that of the parent ganglioside II3NeuAc-GgOse4-Cer, the possible cell surface receptor for the toxin. The terminal galactose residue and an intact carboxyl group of the sialic acid moiety of monosialo-gangliotetraose were apparently necessary for strong binding to the toxin.