Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026
09:56
Hierarchical and Programmable One-Pot Oligosaccharide Synthesis
Published on: September 6, 2019
Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering: perspectives, applications, and future directions.
Christopher T Campbell1, Srinivasa-Gopalan Sampathkumar, Kevin J Yarema
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Clark Hall 106A, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
Molecular Biosystems
|February 20, 2007
Summary
Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering enables precise control over cell surface sugars, impacting development and disease. This approach uses non-natural sugars to modify cellular functions and create chemical tags for applications like drug delivery.
Area of Science:
- Glycobiology
- Chemical Biology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Oligosaccharides on cell surface molecules regulate critical biological processes.
- Glycosylation pathways are essential for protein and lipid modification.
- Limited technologies previously existed to manipulate glycosylation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and explore metabolic oligosaccharide engineering as a method to manipulate cellular glycosylation.
- To demonstrate the incorporation of non-natural sugars into cell surface glycoconjugates.
- To highlight the potential of engineered glycoconjugates for various applications.
Main Methods:
- Supplementing cells with exogenous non-natural sugars to intercept biosynthetic pathways.
- Utilizing enzymes' ability to process slightly altered metabolite structures.
- Incorporating reactive functional groups (ketones, azides, thiols) into glycoconjugates.
Main Results:
- Non-natural forms of sialic acid, GalNAc, GlcNAc, and fucose were successfully incorporated into cell surface glycoconjugates.
- O-GlcNAc protein modification was tagged using modified sugars.
- Engineered glycoconjugates with reactive tags were created for applications like drug delivery and controlled cell adhesion.
Conclusions:
- Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering offers a powerful new approach to manipulate glycosylation.
- This technology allows for the creation of functionalized glycoconjugates with diverse applications.
- Further engineering of non-natural sugars can enhance pharmacological properties and biological activities.
Related Concept Videos
01:24Oligosaccharide Assembly
Protein glycosylation starts in the ER lumen and continues in the Golgi apparatus. Glycosyltransferases catalyze the addition of sugar molecules or glycosylation of proteins. Usually, these enzymes add sugars to the hydroxyl groups of selected serine or threonine residues to form O-linked glycans or the amino groups of asparagine residues to form N-linked glycans. Different positions on the same polypeptide chain can contain differently linked glycans.
Multiple sugar molecules that may or may...
Multiple sugar molecules that may or may...
01:22Bioreactor Controls-III
Strain improvement is a foundational strategy in industrial microbiology aimed at maximizing microbial productivity, particularly because natural isolates typically yield commercially valuable products in very low concentrations. Although optimizing the culture medium and environmental conditions can improve yields, these adjustments are inherently limited by the organism’s genetic potential. As a result, the focus shifts toward genetic modifications to enhance biosynthetic capacity. The...
01:26Biosynthesis of Polysaccharides
Polysaccharides such as glycogen and starch are synthesized from nucleoside diphosphate sugars, primarily uridine diphosphate glucose (UDPG) and adenosine diphosphate glucose (ADPG). These activated glucose donors act as key intermediates in carbohydrate metabolism and biosynthesis. UDPG primarily involves glycogen synthesis in animals and many bacteria, while ADPG plays a fundamental role in starch synthesis in plants and certain bacteria.UDPG is formed when glucose-1-phosphate reacts with...
01:24Other Glycolytic Pathways
The pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) operates in parallel with glycolysis, facilitating the metabolism of both pentoses and glucose. This pathway consists of two distinct phases: the oxidative and non-oxidative phases. While it does not directly generate ATP, the intermediates formed during the process can integrate into glycolysis, contributing to cellular energy metabolism when required.Oxidative Phase: NADPH ProductionThe oxidative phase of the pentose phosphate pathway is primarily...
01:17Microbial Biosensors
Microbial biosensors are analytical devices that utilize living microbes to detect specific substances through measurable signals. These devices consist of two main components: biosensing organisms and signal-transducing elements. Biosensing organisms, such as Escherichia coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are typically housed in multiwell plates connected to transducers, enabling rapid, real-time detection of target analytes.Signal Generation MechanismWhen a target analyte—such as...
01:25Protein Glycosylation
Glycosylation, the most common post-translational modification for proteins, serves diverse functions. Adding sugars to proteins makes the proteins more resistant to proteolytic digestion. Glycosylated proteins can act as markers and receptors to promote cell-cell adhesion. Additionally, they have many essential quality control functions in the cell, such as correct protein folding and facilitating transport of misfolded proteins to the cytosol, which can be degraded.
Glycosylation occurs in...
Glycosylation occurs in...