Versatile Polymer-based Glycosurface Fabrications for Gliding Motility of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae

Glycopolymer is an important class of synthetic molecules that emulate many biological and structural characteristics of cell-surface glycoproteins or glycolipids. Here, a general and versatile strategy is reported for the fabrication of glycopolymer-modified substrates that ligates reducing glycans toward polymeric scaffold through hydrazide linker.¹ The fabrication process and conjugation proceeded in mild conditions with good ligation efficiency and in a controlled chemical presentation. The bioactivity of conjugated carbohydrates was demonstrated through lectin that specifically binds to a defined type of carbohydrate. Then, the developed glycan presentation model system was utilized to examine the binding and gliding activities of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a common cause of human respiratory tract infections, such  as atypical pneumonia.² Analytical results indicated that the nature and density of ligated host receptor moieties profoundly influenced M. pneumoniae gliding, affecting pathogenesis and infection outcome. This precise functionalization of polymer scaffold shows great promise for further analysis of sialic acid presentation, and M. pneumoniae attachment and gliding.

1. Chen, L.; Leman, D.; Williams, C. R.; Brooks, K.; Krause, D. C.; Locklin,  J. Versatile Methodology for Glycosurfaces: Direct Ligation of Nonderivatized Reducing Saccharides to Poly (pentafluorophenyl acrylate) Grafted Surfaces via Hydrazide Conjugation. Langmuir 2017, 33, 8821-8828.
2. Williams, C. R.; Chen, L.; Driver, A. D.; Arnold, E. A.; Edward, S. S.; Locklin, J.; Krause, D. C. Sialylated Receptor Setting Influences Mycoplasma pneumoniae Attachment and Gliding Motility. Molecular Microbiology 2018, in press