ENZYMATIC-SYNTHESIS OF SITE-SPECIFICALLY (ALPHA-1-3)-FUCOSYLATED POLYLACTOSAMINES CONTAINING EITHER A SIALYL-LEWIS-X, A VIM-2, OR A SIALYLATED AND INTERNALLY DIFUCOSYLATED SEQUENCE

By using two different reaction pathways, we generated enzymatically t hree sialylated and site-specifically alpha 1-3-fucosylated polylactos amines, Two of these are isomeric hexasaccharides Neu5Ac(alpha 2-3)Gal (beta 1-4)GlcNAc(beta 1-3)Gal(beta 1-4)[Fuc(alpha 1-3)]GlcN Ac and Neu 5Ac(alpha 2-3)Gal(beta 1-4)[Fuc( alpha 1-3)]GlcNAc(beta 1-3)Gal(beta 1 -4)GlcNAc, containing epitopes that correspond to VIM-2 and sialyl Lew is x, respectively. The third one, nonasaccharide Neu5Ac(alpha 2-3)Gal (beta 1-4)GlcNAc(beta 1-3)Gal(beta 1-4)[Fuc(alpha 1-3)]GlcNAc(beta 1-3 )Gal(beta 1-4)[Fuc(alpha 1-3)]GlcNAc, is a sialylated and internally d ifucosylated derivative of a trimeric N-acetyllactosamine, All three o ligosaccharides have one fucose-free N-acetyllactosaminyl unit and can be used as accepters for recombinant alpha 1-3-fucosyltransferases in determining the biosynthesis pathways leading to polyfucosylated sele ctin ligands, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.