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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Sugars like polysaccharides are found everywhere in nature and are believed to be essential for life to arise. In humans, they cover the surface of all cells and the family of polysaccharides called GAGs (glycosaminoglycans) are particularly abundant and difficult to analyse.

GAGs of the heparan sulfate type play key roles in regulating many biological functions, including inflammation, neurodegeneration and tumor metastasis. In fact, a special type of heparan sulfate called heparin is currently one the most used drugs in the clinic where it is used to prevent coagulation. Researchers are therefore intensively trying to map the detailed structures of heparan sulfates and link them to their biological functions.

So far, only a few structures have been successfully identified, but that may be about to change. In a new study in Nature Communications from the Danish National Research Foundation Centre for Glycomics at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Rebecca Miller and her team have invented a new method that will boost the mapping of these structures.

"Determining the structures is a key question in the research about sugars. If we know the structure, we can determine what the cues are for specific biological functions and consider potential ways to exploit this in the development of therapeutics. This is hugely important and clinically relevant, as shown by the widely used anti-coagulant heparins, and the potential application of new heparin-based drugs for multiple diseases in the future," says Dr. Rebecca Louise Miller, corresponding author of the new study and Assistant Professor at the Copenhagen Center for Glycomics.

More information: Rebecca L. Miller et al, Shotgun ion mobility mass spectrometry sequencing of heparan sulfate saccharides, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15284-y

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