The conformations of theNeuAc
2(I)
3Gal
1(II)
4[Fuc
1(III)
3]GlcNAc-O-CH
3tetrasaccharide (sLe
x),in aqueous solution and bound to E-, P-, and L-selectin have beendetermined using high resolution NMR spectroscopy.In the free ligand, the conformation of glycosidic linkage I isdisordered with {
I,
I} samplingvalues close to{-60
, 0
}, {-100
, -50
}, and {180
,0
}. The trisaccharide portion is rigid and characterized by{
II,
II;
III,
III} = {46
, 18
; 48
, 24
}. Themeasured dissociation rates and equilibrium binding constants,{
koff,
KD},were{164 ± 24 s
-1, 0.72 ± 0.4 mM}, {522± 166 s
-1, 7.8 ± 1.0 mM}, and {1080± 167 s
-1, 3.9 ± 0.6 mM} at300K for E-, P-, and L-selectin, respectively. The boundconformations of the ligand were calculated from the fullrelaxation matrix analysis of transferred-NOE spectra for E- andP-selectin or by using a two-spin approximation forthe L-selectin complex. Both E- and P-selectin recognize the{-60
, 0
} conformation of sLe
x while the{-100
,-50
} conformer is probably recognized by L-selectin. Theconformation of the branched trisaccharide portion inthe bound state remains close to the conformation of the free ligand.In the E-, P-, and L-selectin complexes theGalH4 proton is in the vicinity of protein aromatic protons, mostlikely Tyr94 and/or Tyr48.