Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Hierarchical and Programmable One-Pot Oligosaccharide Synthesis
Published on: September 6, 2019
Oligosaccharides, neoglycoproteins and humanized plastics: their biocatalytic synthesis and possible medical
Jozef Nahálka1, Jun Shao, Peter Gemeiner
1Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 38 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. nahalka@savba.sk
Abstract:
Glycobiology has become one of the fastest growing branches of the biological sciences. Glycomics, which is the study of an organism's entire array of oligosaccharides, is now emerging as the third informatics wave after genomics and proteomics. For example, it is possible to see this progress in the KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) database (http://www.genome.jp/kegg/pathway/map/map01110.html). The interest in this area stems from the realization that carbohydrates, especially oligosaccharides, and their interactions with proteins, play diverse informative roles in all organisms, and that more than half of all proteins are glycosylated. When the biological and pharmaceutical importance of glycoconjugates is considered, it is surprising how little glycobiotechnology has developed. This review reports the latest developments in the biocatalytic synthesis of oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates, with special attention paid to the glycosyltransferase approach. The second part of the review takes the 'conceptual approach' and covers possible medical applications of synthesized glycoconjugates. Various new examples of the conjugation of glyco-informative saccharide sequence to known pharmaceuticals or biomaterials are cited.
Related Concept Videos
Bioplastics
Oligosaccharide Assembly
Multiple sugar molecules that may or may...
Proteoglycans
Biosynthesis of Polysaccharides
Microbial Bioremediation of Plastics
Protein Glycosylation
Glycosylation occurs in...
