Abstract
Characterization of polysaccharides in their native-like forms is of great importance for their subsequent application in the pharmaceuticals and biomedicine fields. Commercial glycogen molecules immobilized on a modified gold surface were characterized using a combination of Single Molecule Force and InfraRed spectroscopies. For this, low biotinylated glycogen was synthetized and subsequently immobilized on a Bovine Serum Albumin/Streptavidin-coated gold modified surface. The presence of glycogen was ascertained by vibrational spectra and confirmed based on the specific interaction of concanavalin A functionalized AFM tips with -glucose residues. Theoretical values of the particle size of this glycogen fitted well with the structural observations. Conformational properties were deduced from the force curves using the FJC model. The studied glycogen showed a compact slightly ramified structure with molecular elongations up to 1000 nm. The investigation of other conformational properties showed similarities with bacterial glycogen, however some differences that are possibly related to the different biosynthesis pathways were observed.
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