Enzymatic Sequencing of Heparin Oligosaccharides Using Exolyase.

Abstract

Heparin/heparan sulfate (HP/HS) is a class of acidic polysaccharides with many potential medical applications, especially HP, and its derivatives, low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs), have been widely used as anticoagulants to treat thrombosis for decades. However, the complex structure endows HP/HS a variety of biological functions and hinders the structural and functional studies of HP/HS. Heparinases derived from bacteria are useful tools for the structural studies of HP/HS as well as the preparation of LMWHs. The enzymatic method for the structural analysis of HP/HS chains is easy to operate, requires less samples, and is low cost. Here, we describe an enzymatic approach to investigate the primary sequences of the HP/HS oligosaccharides using a recently discovered exotype heparinase.