Abnormally high amounts of low molecular weight mannose-rich carbohydrate material were found in the urine of an Angus calf with mannosidosis. At least five oligosaccharide fractions were detected by paper chromatography. The most abundant compound was purified by gel chromatography, zone electrophoresis, and two consecutive preparative paper chromatographic steps. The yield was 10 mg/liter of urine. From structural studies including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, optical rotation, sugar analysis, methylation analysis, and partial enzymatic degradation the following structure was deduced :This oligosaccharide is distinct from all the oligosaccharides previously described which are excreted by patients with mannosidosis.Bovine mannosidosis, previously known as pseudolipidosis [l], is caused by a deficiency of lysosomal a-mannosidase [2]. The enzymatic defect [3] is analogous to the defect in human mannosidosis. Accumulation of mannose-containing oligosaccharides has been demonstrated in human brain tissue [4], bovine lymph nodes [2], and bovine brains [ 5 ] , but none of these compounds was isolated in amount sufficient for a complete structural characterization. Urine from patients with mannosidosis is a rich source of several mannose-containing oligosaccharides and three of these have been isolated and characterized [6,7]. The brain oligosaccharides isolated from bovine mannosidosis were shown by paper chromatography to be distinct from the urine oligosaccharides from the human form of the disease [5]. We now report the complete structure of the most predominant oligosaccharide from the urine of a case of bovine mannosidosis. This oligosaccharide is structurally different from all the human mannosidosis urinary oligosaccharides previously described.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
MaterialsUrine (7.5 1) was collected from a New Zealand calf with mannosidosis. The calf was a 10-month-old Abhreviaiions. Manp, mannopyranoside; GlcNAcp, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-~-glucopyranoside; GlcNAc, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glUCOSe.Enzyme. a-Mannosidase (EC 3.2