The sweet road to synthesis of bacterial sugar structures

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This project aims to characterise the synthesis pathways of nonulosonic acid sugars (NulOs) in bacteria using a combination of bioinformatics and experimental methodologies. Bacteria produce long chains of sugars or glycans on their cell surface known as capsules. These often contain important NulOs that can be uniquely harvested for use in the nutrition, cosmetic and bioremediation industries. By understanding the natural pathways of their synthesis, ‘glycans-by-design’ can be synthetically created with potent tailor-made properties. This project endeavours to examine how glycans with acidic sugars are produced to generate a fundamental understanding of sugar biology and create a database that will advance industrial applications in glycoengineering.