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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Rapid One-step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues
Published on: February 17, 2017
Trehalose as a "chemical chaperone": fact and fantasy
1Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA. jhcrowe@ucdavis.edu
Abstract:
Trehalose is a disaccharide of glucose that is found at high concentrations in a wide variety of organisms that naturally survive drying in nature. Many years ago we reported that this molecule has the remarkable ability to stabilize membranes and proteins in the dry state. A mechanism for the stabilization rapidly emerged, and it was sufficiently attractive that a myth grew up about trehalose as a universal protectant and chemical chaperone. Many of the claims in this regard can be explained by what is now known about the physical properties of this interesting sugar. It is emerging that these properties may make it unusually useful in stabilizing intact cells in the dry state.
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