Amino sugars articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  15 June 2022 | Open Access

  Complete biosynthetic pathway to the antidiabetic drug acarbose

  The market demand for acarbose, a drug used for treatment of patients affected by type-2 diabetes, has increased. In this article, the authors report the acarbose complete biosynthetic pathway, clarifying previously unknown steps and identifying a pseudoglycosyltransferase enzyme, AcbS, a homologue of AcbI that catalyzes the formation of a non-glycosidic C-N bond.

  • Takeshi Tsunoda
  • , Arash Samadi
  •  & Taifo Mahmud

• Article
  24 February 2021 | Open Access

  Discovery of exolytic heparinases and their catalytic mechanism and potential application

  Exolytic heparinases are needed for sequencing of heparin and heparan sulfate (HP), but have not yet been reported. Here, the authors identify exolytic heparinases from different bacteria and show that the heparinases preferentially digest HP, determine the crystal structure of the exoheparinase BlexoHep and perform sequencing of HP octasaccharides using the enzyme.

  • Qingdong Zhang
  • , Hai-Yan Cao
  •  & Fuchuan Li

• Article
  14 June 2019 | Open Access

  The hydrolase LpqI primes mycobacterial peptidoglycan recycling

  Bacterial growth and division require remodelling of the cell wall, which generates free peptidoglycan fragments. Here, Moynihan et al. show that Mycobacterium tuberculosis can recycle components of their peptidoglycan, and characterise a crucial enzyme required for this process.

  • Patrick J. Moynihan
  • , Ian T. Cadby
  •  & Gurdyal S. Besra

• Article
  22 November 2017 | Open Access

  Reassessment of chitosanase substrate specificities and classification

  Chitosanases are classified according to their specificity in cleaving bonds at GlcNAc residues but the current system may be too simplistic. Here, the authors use quantitative mass spectrometry to revisit chitosanase specificity and propose additional determinants for their classification.

  • Tobias Weikert
  • , Anna Niehues
  •  & Bruno M. Moerschbacher

• Article | 13 December 2011

  O-Linked-N-acetylglucosamine on extracellular protein domains mediates epithelial cell–matrix interactions

  The modification of proteins with O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine causes regulation of multiple cellular processes. In this study, Sakaidani and colleagues identify an endoplasmic reticulum O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine transferase in Drosophilathat regulates the adhesion of epithelial cells to the extracellular matrix.

  • Yuta Sakaidani
  • , Tomoko Nomura
  •  & Tetsuya Okajima