Screening Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes - a Fluorescent Solution

在生命的所有领域中，复杂碳水化合物的形成需要大量糖基转移酶（GTs）的协同作用，这些酶催化糖从糖核苷酸供体转移到低聚糖受体链上。这种糖基化反应是许多基本生物学过程的核心，如细胞信号传导、细胞粘附、致癌、人类病原体对免疫系统的逃避，以及在本研究中特别感兴趣的植物细胞壁复杂动态3D结构的生成。与其他具有类似大小和生物学意义的蛋白质家族相比，由于缺乏用于研究GT底物特异性的分子工具，我们对GT生物学的理解仍然是碎片化的。现有的GT分析通常是劳动力和/或成本密集型和/或需要专业设备。我们解决这一问题的方法是通过设计、合成和应用新型荧光糖探针，该探针可用于识别gt并确定其底物特异性。

In all domains of life, the formation of complex carbohydrates requires the concerted action of a multitude of glycosyltransferases (GTs), enzymes that catalyse the transfer of a sugar from a sugar-nucleotide donor onto an acceptor oligosaccharide chain. Such glycosylation reactions are central to many fundamental biological processes, such as cell signalling, cellular adhesion, carcinogenesis, the evasion of the immune system by human pathogens and, of particular interest in the context of this proposed study, the generation of the complex and dynamic 3D architecture that is the plant cell wall. In contrast to other protein families of comparable size and biological significance, our understanding of GT biology remains fragmented, due to a lack of molecular tools for the investigation of GT substrate specificity. Existing GT assays are generally labour- and/or cost-intensive and/or require specialist equipment. Our approach to this problem is through the design, synthesis and application of novel fluorescent sugar probes, which can be used to identify GTs and to determine their substrate specificity.