Bottom-up Investigation of Spatiotemporal Glycocalyx Dynamics with Interferometric Scattering Microscopy

Brunner CM, Pietsch L, vom Sondern I, Röhrl M, Popov CR, Trollmann M, Taylor RW, Blessing M, Holler C, Almahayni K, Jaeschke SO, Sandoghdar V, Böckmann R, Lindhorst TK, Möckl L (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Book Volume: 147

Pages Range: 32799-32808

Journal Issue: 36

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c08659

Abstract

Over recent decades, the glycocalyx, an extracellular organelle composed of a multitude of glycolipids, glycoproteins, proteoglycans, and glycoRNA, has gained considerable interest in cellular biology. While research in this field has revealed its tremendous importance in ever more aspects of physiological and pathological cellular processes, many of the principles that govern the role of the glycocalyx in these processes on a molecular level are still unknown. In order to unravel the fundamental laws underlying glycocalyx function, new technologies are required that enable the distinction between individual subprocesses within the intricate environment of the glycocalyx. Here, we establish an experimental platform to investigate the dynamics of the glycocalyx at the nanometer and microsecond length and time scales in a bottom-up fashion. We synthesized defined oligosaccharides and installed them on supported lipid bilayers. This way, synthetic glycolipids were assembled to glycocalyx model systems with tunable properties. By investigating these tunable model systems with interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy, we gain access to the required spatiotemporal resolution. We found a strong correlation between the molecular structure of several investigated model glycans and global dynamics of the system. Our findings are corroborated by atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations. Our results provide the first direct experimental evidence on the relationship between glycan structure, organization, and dynamics, offering a robust and versatile basis for a quantitative understanding of glycocalyx biology and physics at the molecular level.

Authors with CRIS profile

Additional Organisation(s)

Involved external institutions

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel Germany (DE) Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts (MPL) / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Brunner, C.M., Pietsch, L., vom Sondern, I., Röhrl, M., Popov, C.R., Trollmann, M.,... Möckl, L. (2025). Bottom-up Investigation of Spatiotemporal Glycocalyx Dynamics with Interferometric Scattering Microscopy. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 147(36), 32799-32808. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c08659

MLA:

Brunner, Carla M., et al. "Bottom-up Investigation of Spatiotemporal Glycocalyx Dynamics with Interferometric Scattering Microscopy." Journal of the American Chemical Society 147.36 (2025): 32799-32808.

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