Clickable polymeric coating for glycan microarrays

Abstract

The interaction of carbohydrates with a variety of biological targets,including antibodies,proteins,viruses,and cells are of utmost importance in many aspects of biology. Glycan microarrays are increasingly used to determine the binding specificity of glycan-binding proteins. In this study,a novel microarray support is reported for the fabrication of glycan arrays that combines the higher sensitivity of a layered Si-SiO2 surface with a novel polymeric coating easily modifiable by subsequent click reaction. The alkyne-containing copolymer,adsorbed from an aqueous solution,produces a coating by a single step procedure and serves as a soft,tridimensional support for the oriented immobilization of carbohydrates via azide/alkyne Cu (I) catalyzed "click" reaction. The advantages of a functional 3D polymer coating making use of a click chemistry immobilization are combined with the high fluorescence sensitivity and superior signal-to-noise ratio of a Si-SiO2 substrate. The proposed approach enables the attachment of complex sugars on a silicon oxide surface by a method that does not require skilled personnel and chemistry laboratories.