Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 5: Posters: Biopolymers and Biomaterials

BP 5.18: Poster

Monday, March 22, 2010, 17:15–20:00, Poster B1

Cartilage Proteoglycan Aggrecan Self-Adhesion at the Single Molecule Level — •Alexander Harder¹, Thomas Dierks², Xavier Fernandez-Busquets³, and Dario Anselmetti¹ — ¹Department of Physics, Experimental Biophysics and Applied Nanoscience, Bielefeld University, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany — ²Department of Chemistry, Biochemsitry I, Bielefeld University, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany — ³Biomolecular Interactions Team, Nanobioengineering Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, and Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute, Barcelona Science Park-University of Barcelona, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain

Self-adhesion processes based on glycan-glycan interaction play an important role in cellular systems. A more detailed understanding of such a cation-mediated glycan-glycan interaction is important for aspects in embryogenesis, metastases, and other cellular proliferation processes that are mediated by glycan self-recognition. Proteoglycans which consist of a core protein with attached glycosaminoglycans are model systems for investigations of glycan-glycan interaction. The biological roles of proteoglycans are highly diversified, ranging from relatively straightforward mechanical functions to effects on more dynamic processes such as cell adhesion and motility, to more complex and still poorly understood roles in cell differentiation and development. Here, we investigated the self adhesion between highly negatively charged proteoglycan aggrecan from cartilage extracellular matrix in the presence of Ca2+ with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and single molecule force spectroscopy.