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Updated: May 17, 2026

Metabolic Glycoengineering of Sialic Acid Using N-acyl-modified Mannosamines
Published on: November 25, 2017
Synthesis and structural characterisation of selective non-carbohydrate-based inhibitors of bacterial sialidases
Paul Brear1, Judith Telford, Garry L Taylor
1Biomedical Sciences Research Complex, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9ST, UK.
Abstract:
The major human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae plays a key role in several disease states including septicaemia, meningitis and community-acquired pneumonia. Although vaccines against S. pneumoniae are available as prophylactics, there remains a need to identify and characterise novel chemical entities that can treat the diseases caused by this pathogen. S. pneumoniae expresses three sialidases, enzymes that cleave sialic acid from carbohydrate-based surface molecules. Two of these enzymes, NanA and NanB, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of S. pneumoniae and are considered to be validated drug targets. Here we report our studies on the synthesis and structural characterisation of novel NanB-selective inhibitors that are inspired by the β-amino-sulfonic acid family of buffers.
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