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Updated: May 24, 2026

Metabolic Glycoengineering of Sialic Acid Using N-acyl-modified Mannosamines
Published on: November 25, 2017
Functions and Biosynthesis of O-Acetylated Sialic Acids
Chitra Mandal1, Reinhard Schwartz-Albiez, Reinhard Vlasak
1Cancer and Cell Biology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4 Raja S.C. Mallick Road, Kolkata, 700 032, India.
Abstract:
Sialic acids have a pivotal functional impact in many biological interactions such as virus attachment, cellular adhesion, regulation of proliferation, and apoptosis. A common modification of sialic acids is O-acetylation. O-Acetylated sialic acids occur in bacteria and parasites and are also receptor determinants for a number of viruses. Moreover, they have important functions in embryogenesis, development, and immunological processes. O-Acetylated sialic acids represent cancer markers, as shown for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and they are known to play significant roles in the regulation of ganglioside-mediated apoptosis. Expression of O-acetylated sialoglycans is regulated by sialic acid-specific O-acetyltransferases and O-acetylesterases. Recent developments in the identification of the enigmatic sialic acid-specific O-acetyltransferase are discussed.
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