Cleavage of oligosaccharides by rat kidney sialidase Influence of substrate structure

Abstract
The specificity of the sialidase activity present in rat kidney cortex (12 000 × g pellet) was studied with various tritiated oligosaccharidic substrates: (i) αNeuAc2 → 3βGall → 4Glc-itol[3H], αNeuAc2 → 6βGall → 4Glc-itol[3H] and αNeuAc2 → 8αNeuAc2 → 3βGall → 4Glc-itol[3H] from bovine colostrum; (ii) α-NeuAc2 → 6βGall → 4βGlcNAc-itol[3H], αNeuAc2 → 3βGal1 → 4βGlcNAcl → 2αManl → 3βMan1 → 4GlcNAc-itol[3H]. αNeuAc2 → 6βGall → 4βGlcNAcl → 2αManl α 3(βGall → 4GlcNAcl → 2αManl → 6)βManl → 4GlcNAc-itol [3H]et αNeuAc2 → 6βGall → 4βGlcNAcl → 2αManl-3(αNeuAc2 → 6βGall → 4βGlcNAcl → 2αManl → 6)βManl 4GlNAc-itol[3H] isolated from the urine of a patient with mucolipidosis I. The enzyme cleaves α2 → 3 and α2 → 8 linkages at a greater rate than the α2 → 6 bonds. Its activity decreases with the length of the oligosaccharidic chain. Substitution of a glucose moiety by Nacetylglucosamine results in diminished activity. The specificity of rat kidney sialidase differs from that reported for other mammalian of viral sialidases.