Polysaccharide discovery

多糖是微生物的一种不同的外表面成分，对血清型分类和疫苗开发非常重要。多糖结构的发现和测定是任何后续处理这些生物分子的科学研究的基础。 我们研究计划的支柱是发现并详细说明由感染微生物阐述的新型多糖的结构化学。在化学、分析和光谱研究的基础上，采用创造性和多学科的方法阐明了多糖的共价结构。微生物多糖结构的测定包括选择性提取程序，然后针对具体情况进行化学降解和对降解产物进行分析。如今，由最先进的核磁共振波谱和质谱学实验产生的数据提供了关于多糖复杂结构特征的重要信息，因此是我们研究的关键工具。多糖不具有寡核苷酸或多肽几乎保守的结构性质，尽管我们最初的方法是基于碳水化合物结构的典型框架，但重要的是要认识到，每一种多糖都需要不同的方法才能阐明其精细结构。特别是，微生物具有合成分支杂多糖的能力，这些杂多糖通常含有以前未知的不寻常构型的糖。因此，探索新的多糖分析方法是我们研究计划的一个补充分支。 我们的结构发现将为未来处理微生物多糖生化功能的研究奠定基础，并将形成新的基于碳水化合物的抗微生物疫苗的核心。

Polysaccharides are a diverse outer-surface component of microbial organisms that are important for serotype classification and vaccine development. The discovery and determination of polysaccharide structure is fundamental for any subsequent scientific research that deals with these biomolecules. The backbone of our research program is the discovery and detailed structural chemistry of novel polysaccharides that are elaborated by infectious microorganisms. The polysaccharide covalent structures are elucidated using a creative and multidisciplinary approach based on chemical, analytical and spectroscopic studies. The determination of microbial polysaccharide structures involves selective extraction procedures followed by case-specific chemical degradations and analysis of the degradation products. Nowadays, data generated by state-of-the-art nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry experiments yield important information about intricate structural features of polysaccharides and are thus key tools in our research. Polysaccharides do not share the almost conserved structural nature of oligonucleotides or peptides, and although we base our initial approach on the typical framework of carbohydrate structures, it is important to realize that every polysaccharide requires a different approach in order for its fine structure to be elucidated. In particular, microbes possess the ability to synthesize branched heteropolysaccharides often containing previously unknown sugars of unusual configurations. Accordingly, the exploration of new methodology for polysaccharide analysis is a complementary branch of our research program. Our structural findings will form the basis for future studies dealing with the biochemical function of microbial polysaccharides and will form the core for new anti-microbial carbohydrate-based vaccines.