Murine Granulocytic Cell Adhesion to Bone Marrow Hemonectin Is Mediated by Mannose and Galactose

motes specific attachment of immature granulocytes and their precursors within the BM. We report that HN is a glyco-protein containing both mannose and galactose residues, and provide evidence that these carbohydrates mediate granulocytic cell adhesion to HN. Carbohydrate structure was determined by digoxigenin-conjugated lectin binding to HN and indicated the presence of mannose, galactose, sialic acid, and the absence of fucose-linked oligosaccharides. The role of carbohydrates in mediating cell adhesion was exam-ined by chemical and enzymatic deglycosylation. Deglyco-sylation of HN with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, which cleaves N- and 0-linked oligosaccharides, inhibits 66 % of cell HE BONE MARROW (BM) extracellular matrix pro-tein hemonectin (HN) mediates lineage-specific adhe-sion of early granulocytic cells, and their precursors (CFC