Fig. 1.

Experimental design: a polystyrene bead functionalized with mucins or mucin analogs is trapped in each of the two optical traps of the dual-beam OT instrument. During the experiment, the two beads are brought into contact, allowing the molecules immobilized onto the bead surfaces to interact, before being separated. Bead displacement speed is defined as the speed by which the two beads are moved apart, and loading rate is the force applied onto the intermolecular bond per unit time during the separation. The graphical illustration depicts a mucin molecule displaying a glycan decoration consisting of only GalNAc groups. The remaining mucin samples studied in this article and their glycosylation patterns are presented in Table I. This figure is available in black and white in print and in color at Glycobiology online.