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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.08.11.552905

Bifunctional Monosaccharides Preferentially Localize to Nuclear Subcompartments

Barahtjan, P.·Iglesias-Artola, J. M.·Boehlig, K.·Lohmann, A.·Nadler, A.
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Abstract

Recent progress in glycan research has been driven by widespread implementations of metabolic oligosaccharide engineering. Complementing existing approaches, we here introduce bifunctional, UV-crosslinkable and clickable N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine analogues, which enable direct visualization of the intracellular probe distribution as well as distinguishing monomeric and macromolecule-bound fractions. Using this feature, we find that monomeric N-acetylmonosaccharides partition into RNA-rich nuclear compartments such as nuclear speckles and nucleoli. This suggests the existence of spatially separated N-acetylmonosccharide pools within the nucleoplasm. Taken together, bifunctional N-acetylmonosaccharide probes are a powerful discovery tool for probing intracellular localization of monosaccharides and glycosylated macromolecules.

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Barahtjan, P., Iglesias-Artola, J. M., Boehlig, K., Lohmann, A., Nadler, A.. 2023-08-11. Bifunctional Monosaccharides Preferentially Localize to Nuclear Subcompartments. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.11.552905

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