Carbohydrates articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Poly-β-(1–6)-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG) is an important vaccine target, but the impact of the number and position of free amine vs N-acetylation on its antigenicity is not well understood. Here, the authors report a divergent strategy to synthesize a comprehensive library of PNAG pentasaccharides, enabling the identification of enhanced epitopes for vaccines against Staphylococcus aureus including drug resistant strains.

    • Zibin Tan
    • , Weizhun Yang
    •  & Xuefei Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) are non-catalytic domains found within multi-modular carbohydrate-active enzymes like glycoside hydrolases. Here, the authors show the crystal structures of two CBM family 92 members, which use three different surface binding sites to bind to β-glucans.

    • Meng-Shu Hao
    • , Scott Mazurkewich
    •  & Lauren S. McKee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors develop a high-throughput method to quantify Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (BL. infantis), a proficient HMO-utilizer, from metagenomic sequencing, and applied it to a longitudinal cohort consisting of 21 mother-infant dyads, suggesting BL. infantis colonization to start late in the breast-feeding period.

    • Dena Ennis
    • , Shimrit Shmorak
    •  & Moran Yassour

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biological degradation of glycosides involves, alongside hydrolysis, β-elimination for glycosidic bond cleavage. Here, the authors report an O-glycoside β-eliminase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens that converts the C3-oxidized O-β-d-glucoside of phloretin into the aglycone and the 2-hydroxy-3-keto-d-glycal elimination product, and suggest convergent evolution of β-eliminase active sites for the cleavage of natural product 3-keto-O-glycosides.

    • Johannes Bitter
    • , Martin Pfeiffer
    •  & Bernd Nidetzky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid-state NMR snapshots of Aspergillus sydowii and other halophilic fungal species reveal the structural rearrangement of polysaccharides and proteins, which create a thick, stiff and hydrophobic cell wall to withstand external stress and thrive in hypersaline environment

    • Liyanage D. Fernando
    • , Yordanis Pérez-Llano
    •  & Tuo Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    O-acetylation is a common modification of sialic acids. Here, a library of synthetic O-acetylated sialosides made it possible to develop an ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) approach that can elucidate exact O-acetylation patterns and glycosidic linkage types of sialosides isolated from biological samples.

    • Gaёl M. Vos
    • , Kevin C. Hooijschuur
    •  & Geert-Jan Boons

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heparan sulfate (HS) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) are different glycosaminoglycan chains that are attached to core proteins via the same linker tetrasaccharide, and it was unclear how core proteins are specifically modified with HS or CS. Here, the authors determine that the CS-initiating glycosyltransferase CSGALNACT2 is promiscuous, whereas the HS-initiating glycosyltransferase EXTL3 selects only certain core proteins for modification.

    • Douglas Sammon
    • , Anja Krueger
    •  & Erhard Hohenester

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellular glycosylation is complex and heterogeneous, which is challenging to reproduce synthetically. Here, the authors report on enzymatic remodelling of multivalent glycosylated bacteriophages to produce genetically encoded library of N-glycans which can be used to measure glycan-protein interactions with lectins on the surface of live cells and organs.

    • Chih-Lan Lin
    • , Mirat Sojitra
    •  & Ratmir Derda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    (1,3;1,4)-β-d-Glucans are widely distributed in many organisms, but little is known about the enzymes responsible for their synthesis outside the grasses. Here, the authors report on the presence of (1,3;1,4)-β-d-glucans in the exopolysaccharides of the Gram-positive bacterium Romboutsia ilealis and identify and characterize the (1,3;1,4)-β-d-glucan synthase RiGT2.

    • Shu-Chieh Chang
    • , Mu-Rong Kao
    •  & Yves S. Y. Hsieh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spatial metabolomics are used to describe the location and chemistry of small molecules involved in metabolic phenotypes. Here, Conroy et al. present a bioinformatic pipeline to analyze MALDI data and show that it can be used to identify actionable targets such as glycogen in fibrotic lungs of both human and mice.

    • Lindsey R. Conroy
    • , Harrison A. Clarke
    •  & Ramon C. Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pseudouridine (Ψ), the C-nucleoside isomer of uridine, and its 1-N-methyl derivative, are incorporated in mRNA vaccines and essential for their efficiency, but difficult to synthetically access. Here, the authors report on selective and atom-economic 1N-5C rearrangement of β-d-ribosyl on uracil to obtain Ψ from unprotected U in quantitative yield

    • Martin Pfeiffer
    • , Andrej Ribar
    •  & Bernd Nidetzky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacterial cell growth and division require the coordinated action of enzymes that synthesize and degrade cell wall polymers. Here, the authors identify enzymes that cleave the D-arabinan core of arabinogalactan, an unusual component of the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.

    • Omar Al-Jourani
    • , Samuel T. Benedict
    •  & Patrick J. Moynihan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion mobility is used in mass spectrometers for structure analysis of biomolecules. Here, the authors show that ion mobility analysis in an ion trap under ultra-high fields enables isomer separation at resolutions over 10,000, wich they demonstrate for isomers of disaccharides, phospholipids, and peptides.

    • Xiaoyu Zhou
    • , Zhuofan Wang
    •  & Zheng Ouyang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Hedgehog morphogen creates gradients during development, but diffusion alone cannot explain its spatiotemporal dynamics. Hedgehog transport requires binding heparan sulfate sugar chains, and the authors now show that Hedgehogs can spread by interacting with sequential heparan molecules.

    • Fabian Gude
    • , Jurij Froese
    •  & Kay Grobe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heparin is a family of complex carbohydrates binding to proteins to modulate cell activities. Here the authors report the synthesis, and conformations simulations of S-linked hemi-A heparosan [GlcA-S-GlcNAc]n, a thio-glycosidic uncleavable polysaccharide, and test it as human heparanase inhibitor.

    • Peng He
    • , Xing Zhang
    •  & Paul L. DeAngelis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Degree of polymerisation, fraction and pattern of acetylation change the material and biological properties of chitosan. Here, the authors show that enzymes can N-acetylate fully deacetylated chitosan to replicate the natural control over acetylation pattern not found in chemically produced chitosan allowing more control over properties.

    • Sruthi Sreekumar
    • , Jasper Wattjes
    •  & Bruno M. Moerschbacher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Access to glycoenzymes for basic and applied research is limited by difficulties with their recombinant expression. Here, the authors describe a universal strategy for converting membrane-bound glycosyltransferases into water-soluble biocatalysts, which are expressed at high levels with retention of activity.

    • Thapakorn Jaroentomeechai
    • , Yong Hyun Kwon
    •  & Matthew P. DeLisa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases contribute to microbial degradation of chitin, but how the resulting oxidized chitooligosaccharides are utilized by microbes is unclear. Here, the authors describe a complete pathway for oxidative chitin utilization in marine bacteria.

    • Wen-Xin Jiang
    • , Ping-Yi Li
    •  & Yu-Zhong Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Barley β-d-glucan glucohydrolase is a glycoside hydrolase family 3 (GH3) enzyme critical for growth and development. Here the authors carryout mutagenesis, structural analyses and multi-scale molecular dynamics to examine the binding and conformational behaviour of several β-d-glucosides during the substrate-product assisted catalysis that operates in GH3 hydrolases.

    • Sukanya Luang
    • , Xavier Fernández-Luengo
    •  & Maria Hrmova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ChREBP is a glucose-responsive transcription factor, which regulates glucose-mediated proliferation and cell death in pancreatic β-cells. Here the authors show that the acute feed forward induction of ChREBPβ is required for adaptive β-cell expansion, that chronic overexpression of ChREBPβ is toxic to β-cells, and offer mitigation strategies

    • Liora S. Katz
    • , Gabriel Brill
    •  & Donald K. Scott

  • Article
    | Open Access

    AM0627 is a bis-O-glycan mucinase that might work in the final steps of mucus degradation, thereby providing a carbon and nitrogen source for Akkermansia muciniphila. Here, the authors provide molecular insights into AM0627 function from X-ray crystallography and computer simulations.

    • Víctor Taleb
    • , Qinghua Liao
    •  & Ramon Hurtado-Guerrero

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The phosphoethanolamine modified cellulose in E. colibiofilms has revealed that polysaccharide functionalization alters the biofilm properties. Here, the authors show a model system to explore the role of phosphoethanolamine and other unnatural modifications on the properties of the biofilm-inspired assemblies.

    • Theodore Tyrikos-Ergas
    • , Soeun Gim
    •  & Martina Delbianco

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Matriglycan, a repeating disaccharide on α-dystroglycan, is the receptor for Lassa virus and specific extracellular matrix proteins. Here, the authors demonstrate that matriglycan, in a length-dependent tunable manner, is both necessary and sufficient for protein binding and viral infection.

    • M. Osman Sheikh
    • , Chantelle J. Capicciotti
    •  & Geert-Jan Boons

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Haloacid dehalogenase-like phosphatases are widespread across all domains of life and play a crucial role in the regulation of levels of sugar phosphate metabolites in cells. The authors report on the structure-guided engineering of phosphatases for dedicated substrate specificity for the conversion of sucrose and starch into fructose and mannose.

    • Chaoyu Tian
    • , Jiangang Yang
    •  & Yanhe Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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
    | Open Access

    The cell wall of the bacterial pathogen Group A Streptococcus is decorated with a polysaccharide termed GAC, which is a target for vaccine development. Here, Rush et al. characterize the linkage between GAC and peptidoglycan, and identify a protein that deacetylates the linkage and thus protects the pathogen against host cationic antimicrobial proteins.

    • Jeffrey S. Rush
    • , Prakash Parajuli
    •  & Natalia Korotkova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The plant biomass is a composite formed by a variety of polysaccharides and an aromatic polymer named lignin. Here, the authors use solid-state NMR spectroscopy to unveil the carbohydrate-aromatic interface that leads to the variable architecture of lignocellulose biomaterials.

    • Alex Kirui
    • , Wancheng Zhao
    •  & Tuo Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pseudomonas aeruginosa employs lectins to bind to its host cells, and is known to be the major cause of lung infections. Lectin B (LecB) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa binds specifically to galactose and fucose and is important for pathogenicity, adhesion and biofilm formation. In this work, the neutron crystal structure (1.9 Å) of the deuterated LecB/Ca/fucose complex is reported. The structure, in combination with perdeuteration of the ligand and the receptor allowed the observation of hydrogen atoms, protonation states and hydrogen bonds involved in the interaction between pathogenic bacteria and host cells. Thus the study provides structural insights into the mechanism of high affinity binding of LecB to its targets.

    • Lukas Gajdos
    • , Matthew P. Blakeley
    •  & Anne Imberty

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aberrant expression of fucosylated glycans has been linked to several disease states. Control of fucose expression on live cells is needed to aid research and therapy development. Here the authors report on the development of a class of fucosylation metabolic prodrug inhibitors and demonstrated inhibition of cellular fucosylation.

    • Johan F. A. Pijnenborg
    • , Emiel Rossing
    •  & Thomas J. Boltje

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Starch is the major form of energy storage in plant cells and forms discrete, semi-crystalline granules within plastids. Here the authors use electron tomography and nanoSIMS to show that Arabidopsis starch granules initiate in stromal pockets between thylakoid membranes that coalesce before growing anisotropically.

    • Léo Bürgy
    • , Simona Eicke
    •  & Samuel C. Zeeman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The fungal cell wall is a complex structure composed mainly of glucans, chitin and glycoproteins. Here, the authors use solid-state NMR spectroscopy to assess the cell wall architecture of Aspergillus fumigatus, comparing wild-type cells and mutants lacking major structural polysaccharides, with insights into the distinct functions of these components.

    • Arnab Chakraborty
    • , Liyanage D. Fernando
    •  & Tuo Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, Broszeit et al. show that circulating A/H3N2 viruses have evolved binding specificity to α2,6-sialosides on extended LacNAc moieties and therefore cannot agglutinate erythrocytes. Applying glycan remodeling allows to install functional receptors on erythrocytes and promotes identification of newly circulating variants to facilitate vaccine design.

    • Frederik Broszeit
    • , Rosanne J. van Beek
    •  & Geert-Jan Boons

  • Article
    | Open Access

    O-GalNAc glycans are essential in many biological and pathological processes, but difficult to access due to their structural complexity and synthetic challenges. Here, the authors report an efficient chemoenzymatic modular assembly strategy to construct structurally diverse O-GalNAc glycans, use the synthesised glycans to generate a synthetic mucin O-glycan microarray and profile binding specificities of glycan-binding proteins.

    • Shuaishuai Wang
    • , Congcong Chen
    •  & Lei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microbial oxidoreductases are key in biomass breakdown. Here, the authors expand the specificity and redox scope within fungal auxiliary activity 7 family (AA7) enzymes and show that AA7 oligosaccharide dehydrogenases can directly fuel cellulose degradation by lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases.

    • Majid Haddad Momeni
    • , Folmer Fredslund
    •  & Maher Abou Hachem

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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
    | Open Access

    The fate of ocean carbon is determined by the balance between primary productivity and heterotrophic breakdown of that photosynthate. Here the authors show that diatoms produce a polysaccharide that resists bacterial degradation, accumulates, aggregates and stores carbon during spring blooms.

    • Silvia Vidal-Melgosa
    • , Andreas Sichert
    •  & Jan-Hendrik Hehemann

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