As one of the four fundamental classes of macromolecules that comprise living systems, glycans were found to play diverse roles in a wide range of biological processes. Understanding the structures and functions of glycans is central to understanding biology. However, glycans found in nature possess an inherited diversity, complexity, and in most cases low abundance, makes it hard to access structurally defined glycans in sufficient amounts. In the past decades, with the advance of molecular biology and biochemistry, increasing carbohydrate biosynthesis enzymes and co-factors are accessible, and a large number of complex glycoconjugates are synthesized using enzymes. Furthermore, by following the natural biosynthetic pathways, majority of important glycan backbone sequences now can be synthesized, which makes a collection of synthetic carbohydrate structure library, also called synthetic glycomics. Such a synthetic library will continue to expand and use for biological and biomedical research. By following the same biosynthetic pathways inside cells, a variety of sugar derivatives are being used as probes to explore the properties of living cells. By analyzing mRNA levels of the biosynthetic pathways at single cell level, new insights on viral infection to human cells are being discovered.

Achievements and perspectives on enzymatic synthesis of carbohydrates: from synthetic glycomics to chemical biology of glycoscience

ACS Fall 2021

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