The structure of a fucosylated chondroitin sulfate from the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa

A fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FCS) CF was isolated from the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa and purified by anion-exchange chromatography. Chemical and NMR spectroscopic methods were applied for the structural characterization of this biopolymer. The backbone of CF was found to consist of chondroitin sulfate A and E fragments together with rather uncommon disaccharide repeating units →3)-β-d-GalNAc4S6S-(1→4)-β-d-GlcA3S-(1→ and →3)-β-d-GalNAc4S-(1 → 4)-β-d-GlcA3S-(1→. Three types of branches were found in molecules of CF. Two of them were identified as α-l-Fuc p3S4S and α-l-Fuc p2S4S attached to O-3 of Glc pA residues, while the third one was per-O-sulfated α-l-Fuc p linked to O-6 of Gal pNAc residue. The ratio of these branches was 5:2:1. According to these data, CF has more complicated structure than the corresponding FCS, isolated from the same holothurian species and described previously (Liu et al., 2016). The presence of new structural features both in the backbone and in branches of CF gives an additional example of structural variability within holothurian FCS.