Biology subjects

Karlsson, N. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Karlsson, N. G..

12 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Mapping galectin-3 ligands in tear fluid establishes spliceoform-dependent lacritin binding

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a carbohydrate-binding protein which plays crucial roles in inflammation, immune response, cell migration, autophagy, and signaling. At the ocular surface, Gal-3 is also known to crosslink transmembrane mucins across the epithelial cell glycocalyx, forming lattice structures important for barrier function. However, the biological role of Gal-3 in circulating tear fluid remains largely unexplored. Similarly, whether Gal-3 engages extracellular glycoproteins in tears to affect downstream biological processes has yet to be investigated. As increased Gal-3 levels in tears are known to correlate with ocular pathologies such as dry eye disease (DED), we sought to elucidate the Gal-3 interactome in tear fluid and uncover biological insights into the function of Gal-3 beyond adhesion to the epithelial cell surface. Here, we combined ELISA, lectin affinity enrichment, mass spectrometry (MS)-based glycoproteomics, and lectin blotting to uncover Gal-3 interactors and their associated glycoepitopes. Overall, we report nearly 100 proteins enriched from tear fluid across 3 different patients, identifying proteins involved in immune response, inflammation, and antimicrobial activity. Most notably, we report lacritin as a novel ligand for Gal-3 and demonstrate that specific glycoforms of lacritin bearing core 2 O-glycans preferentially engage with Gal-3. Lastly, we show that the Gal-3-lacritin axis is spliceoform-specific and dependent on lacritin multimerization. Taken together, this study elucidates new ligands for Gal-3 in tear film and reveals mRNA splicing and multimerization as new biochemical mechanisms that fine-tune Gal-3 binding events.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2025

In-depth analysis of the tear fluid glycoproteome reveals diverse lacritin glycosylation and spliceoforms

Tear fluid comprises a diverse group of extracellular glycoproteins which are critical for ocular homeostasis. Within the tear fluid glycoproteome, lacritin is highly expressed and plays a key role in immune response, tear secretion, and antimicrobial activity. Importantly, glycosylation constitutes over 50% of lactritins molecular weight. However, despite this fact, nothing is known about the specific glycan structures on lacritin and how they influence its protein folding, function, or downstream biological processes. Similarly, it remains completely unknown whether alterations to lacritin glycans are correlated with ocular pathologies. To address this gap in knowledge, we harnessed mass spectrometry (MS) to conduct the first O-glycoproteomic study of tear fluid. Here, we report unprecedented coverage of lacritin glycosylation, detailing 19 O-glycosites bearing a myriad of glycan structures. Further, we leveraged Alphafold 3.0 and GlycoShape to visualize the impact of these glycans on its structure, demonstrating that O-glycosylation renders the protein backbone rigid and extended. Surprisingly, we also detected protein-level evidence of two lacritin spliceoforms, representing the first observation of these isoforms by MS. Simultaneously, we describe the most comprehensive characterization of the tear fluid glycoproteome to date, elucidating the glycosylation profile of Immunoglobulin A (IgA), lactoferrin, and other glycoproteins with demonstrated clinical relevance as diagnostic biomarkers. Overall, this study lays critical groundwork for future biochemical investigation of tear fluid glycoproteins and their application as diagnostic or therapeutic tools for ocular diseases.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2025

Sialoglycans modulate Siglec-5 - TLR4 Interactions in Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by chronic, low-grade inflammation that contributes to cartilage degradation and joint pain. We previously identified Siglec-5/14 in synovial fluid of OA patients (OA SF), which prompted us to investigate its interaction with the sialylated proinflammatory receptor TLR4 in monocytes. Here, we reveal an inverse correlation between Siglec-5 and TLR4, suggesting Siglec-5 may suppress inflammation. To gain mechanistic insights, monocytes stimulated with OA SFs were compared to M-CSF, LPS, and sialidase, to assess patient-specific inflammatory pathways and phenotypes. Notably, OA SF that triggered elevated IL-6 production in monocytes exhibited phenotypes similar to those of LPS- or sialidase-treated cells, reinforcing the role of sialylation patterns influencing OA severity. To confirm direct interaction of Siglec-5 and TLR4, colocalization was analyzed, displaying a time- and sialoglycan-dependent interaction. These findings reveal a Siglec-5-TLR4 axis modulated by sialylation, highlighting a potential strategy for mitigating inflammation and preserve joint integrity in OA.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Predicting glycan structure from tandem mass spectrometry via deep learning

Glycans constitute the most complicated post-translational modification, modulating protein activity in health and disease. However, structural annotation from tandem mass spectrometry data is a bottleneck in glycomics, preventing high-throughput endeavors and relegating glycomics to a few experts. Trained on a newly curated set of 300,000 annotated MS/MS spectra, we present CandyCrunch, a dilated residual neural network predicting glycan structure from raw LC-MS/MS data in seconds (Top1 Accuracy: 87.7%). We developed an open-access Python-based workflow of raw data conversion and prediction, followed by automated curation and fragment annotation, with predictions recapitulating and extending expert annotation. We demonstrate that this can be used for de novo annotation, diagnostic fragment identification, and high-throughput glycomics. For maximum impact, this entire pipeline is tightly interlaced with our glycowork platform and can be easily tested at https://colab.research.google.com/github/BojarLab/CandyCrunch/blob/main/CandyCru nch.ipynb. We envision CandyCrunch to democratize structural glycomics and the elucidation of biological roles of glycans.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2022

Sialidases and Fucosidases of Akkermansia muciniphila are crucial for growth on mucin and nutrient sharing with mucus-associated gut bacteria

The gut mucolytic specialist Akkermansia muciniphila is strongly associated with the integrity of the mucus layer. Mucin glycan utilization requires the removal of diverse protective caps, notably, fucose and sialic acid, but the enzymatic details of this process remain largely unknown. Here, we describe the specificities of ten A. muciniphila glycoside hydrolases, which collectively remove all known sialyl and fucosyl mucin caps including those with double sulphated epitopes. Structural analyses revealed an unprecedented fucosidase modular arrangement and explained the exclusive sialyl T-antigen specificity of a sialidase of a previously unknown family and catalytic apparatus. Key cell attached sialidases and fucosidases conferred mucin-binding and their inhibition abolished growth of A. muciniphila on mucin. Remarkably, the sialic acid fucose did not contribute to A. muciniphila growth, but instead promoted butyrate production by co-cultured Clostridia. This study brings unique mechanistic insight into the initiation of mucin O-glycan degradation by A. muciniphila and the nutrient sharing between key mucus-associated bacteria.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2022

Reproducing extracellular matrix adverse remodelling of non-ST myocardialinfarction in a large animal model

The rising incidence of non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and associated long-term high mortality constitutes an urgent clinical issue. Unfortunately, the study of possible interventions to treat this pathology lacks a reproducible pre-clinical model. Indeed, currently adopted small and large animal models of MI mimic only full-thickness, ST-segment-elevation (STEMI) infarcts, and hence cater only for investigation into therapeutics and interventions directed at this subset of MI. Thus, we developed an ovine model of NSTEMI by ligating the myocardial muscle at precise intervals parallel to the left anterior descending coronary artery. After validating the presented model both by histology and functional analysis with clinical data, further omics analyses highlighted the distinctive features of post-NSTEMI tissue remodelling. Here, by looking at the transcriptome and proteome-derived pathways emerging at acute (7 days) and late (28 days) post-surgery timepoints, we discovered specific alterations in cardiac post-ischaemic extracellular matrix (ECM). Together with the rise of well-known markers of inflammation and fibrosis, NSTEMI ischaemic regions showed distinctive patterns in the expression of complex N-glycans and glycosaminoglycans in cellular membranes and ECM. Identifying such changes in molecular moieties accessible to infusible and intra-myocardial injectable drugs sheds light on the development of targeted pharmacological solutions to contrast adverse fibrotic remodelling.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2021

The level of synovial human VEGFA, IL-8 and MIP-1α correlate with truncation of lubricin glycans in osteoarthritis

Osteoarthrithis (OA) is an endemic disease due to the increase of the worlds elderly population. Previously thought to be a consequence of an imbalance between cartilage degradation and biosynthesis, it is now recognized as a disease also involving inflammation, hence influencing the level of inflammatory cytokines, growth factors and chemokines. Lubricin is a mucin type molecule where its OA induced glycosylation truncation propels a deteriorating lubrication of the articular cartilage. The objective of this study was to explore the OA driven truncation of O-linked glycosylation of synovial lubricin and its cross talk with systemic and local (synovial fluid, SF) inflammation. We compared the systemic level of cytokines/chemokine in OA patients and controls plasma with their local level in SF using a 44 plex screen. The level of 27 cytokines and chemokines was consistently measured in both plasma and SF. The data showed that the levels of cytokines and chemokines in OA plasma display limited correlation to their counterpart in SF. The level of synovial IL-8 and MIP-1 and VEGFA in OA patients, but not their plasma level, where the only cytokines that displayed a significant correlation to the observed lubricin O-linked glycosylation truncation. These cytokines were also shown to be upregulated exposing fibroblast like synoviocytes from healthy and OA patients to recombinant lubricin with truncated glycans mainly consisting of Tn-antigens, while lubricin with sialylated and non-sialylated T anigens did not have any effect. The data suggest that truncated glycans of lubricin, as found in OA, promotes the synovial cytokine production and exerebate the local synovial inflammation.

pathology↗

bioRxiv2020

A single bacterial sulfatase is required for metabolism of colonic mucin O-glycans and intestinal colonization by a symbiotic human gut bacterium

Humans have co-evolved with a dense community of microbial symbionts that inhabit the lower intestine. In the colon, secreted mucus creates a physical barrier that separates these microbes from the intestinal epithelium. Some gut bacteria are able to utilize mucin glycoproteins, the main mucus component, as a nutrient source. However, it remains unclear which bacterial enzymes initiate the degradation of the highly complex O-glycans found in mucins. In the colon, these glycans are heavily sulfated, but the specific sulfatases that are active on colonic mucins have not been identified. Here, we show that sulfatases are essential to the utilization of colonic mucin O-glycans by the human gut symbiont Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. We have characterized the activity of 12 different sulfatases encoded by this species, showing that these enzymes collectively are active on all of the known sulfate linkages in colonic O-glycans. Crystal structures of 3 enzymes provide mechanistic insight into the molecular basis of substrate-specificity. Unexpectedly, we found that a single sulfatase is essential for utilization of sulfated O-glycans in vitro and also plays a major role in vivo. Our results provide insight into the mechanisms of mucin degradation by gut bacteria, an important process for both normal microbial gut colonization and diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Sulfatase activity is likely to be a keystone step in bacterial mucin degradation and inhibition of these enzymes may therefore represent a viable therapeutic path for treatment of IBD and other diseases.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Butyrate producing Clostridiales utilize distinct human milk oligosaccharides correlating to early colonization and prevalence in the human gut

The early life human gut microbiota exerts life-long health effects on the host, but the mechanisms underpinning its assembly remain elusive. Particularly, the early colonization of Clostridiales from the Roseburia-Eubacterium group, associated with protection from colorectal cancer, immune- and metabolic disorders is enigmatic. Here we unveil the growth of Roseburia and Eubacterium members on human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) using an unprecedented catabolic apparatus. The described HMO pathways and additional glycan utilization loci confer co-growth with Akkermansia muciniphilia via cross-feeding and access to mucin O-glycans. Strikingly, both, HMO and xylooligosaccharide pathways, were active simultaneously attesting an adaptation to a mixed HMO-solid food diet. Analyses of 4599 Roseburia genomes underscored the preponderance of HMO pathways and highlighted different HMO utilization phylotypes. Our revelations provide a possible rationale for the early establishment and resilience of butyrate producing Clostridiales and expand the role of specific HMOs in the assembly of the early life microbiota.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Glycan analysis of human neutrophil granules implicates a maturation-dependent glycosylation machinery

Protein glycosylation is essential to trafficking and immune functions of human neutrophils. During granulopoeisis in the bone marrow, distinct neutrophil granules are successively formed. Distinct receptors and effector proteins, many of which are glycosylated, are targeted to each type of granule according to their time of expression, a process called targeting-by-timing. Therefore, these granules are time capsules reflecting different times of maturation that can be used to understand how glycosylation evolves during granulopoiesis. Herein, neutrophil subcellular granules were fractionated by Percoll density gradient centrifugation and N- and O-glycans present in each compartment were analyzed by liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. We found abundant paucimannosidic N-glycans and lack of O-glycans in early-formed azurophil granules (AG), whereas later-formed specific and gelatinase granules (SG and GG) contained complex N- and O-glycans with remarkably elongated N-acetyllactosamine repeats with Lewis-x and sialyl-Lewis-x epitopes. Many glycans identified are unique to neutrophils and their complexity increased progressively from AG to SG and then to GG, suggesting temporal changes in the glycosylation machinery indicative of glycosylation-by-timing during granulopoiesis. In summary, this comprehensive neutrophil granule glycome map, the first of its kind, highlights novel granule-specific glycosylation features and is a crucial first step towards a better understanding of the mechanisms regulating protein glycosylation during neutrophil granulopoiesis and a more detailed understanding of neutrophil biology and function.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2019

Core-2 O-glycans are required for Galectin-3 interaction with the osteoarthritis related protein lubricin

Synovial fluid lubricin (proteoglycan 4) is a mucin-type O-linked glycosylated (60% of the mass) biological lubricant involved in osteoarthritis (OA) development. Lubricin has been reported to be cross-linked by synovial galectin-3 on the lubricating articular surface. Here, we confirm that binding to galectin-3 depended on core-2 O-linked glycans, where surface plasmon resonance of a recombinant lubricin (rhPRG4) devoid of core-2 structures lacked binding capacity to recombinant galectin-3. Both galectin-3 levels and interactions with synovial lubricin were found to be decreased in late-stage OA patients coinciding with an increase of truncated and less sialylated core 1 O-glycans. These data suggest a defect cross-linking of surface active molecules in OA and provides novel insights into OA molecular pathology.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2019

Cathepsin G Degrades Synovial Fluid Lubricin: Relevance For Osteoarthritis Pathogenesis

Lubricin (PRG4) is a mucin type protein that plays an important role in maintaining normal joint function by providing lubrication and chondroprotection. Improper lubricin modification and degradation has been observed in idiopathic osteoarthritis (OA), while the detailed mechanism still remains unknown. We hypothesized that the protease cathepsin G (CG) may participate in degrading lubricin in synovial fluid (SF). The presence of endogenous CG in SF was confirmed in 16 patients with knee OA. Recombinant human lubricin (rhPRG4) and native lubricin purified from the SF of patients were incubated with exogenous CG and lubricin degradation was monitored using western blot, staining by Coomassie or Periodic Acid-Schiff in gels, and with proteomics. Full length lubricin ([~]300 kDa), was efficiently digested with CG generating a 25-kDa protein fragment, originating from the densely glycosylated mucin domain ([~]250 kDa). The 25-kDa fragment was present in the SF from OA patients, and the amount was increased after incubation with CG. A CG digest of rhPRG4 revealed 135 peptides and 72 glycopeptides, and confirmed that the protease could cleave in different domains of lubricin. Our results suggest that synovial CG may take part in the degradation of lubricin, which could affect the lubrication of OA joints.

pathology↗