Research Highlights

Nature Insight: Glycochemistry & Glycobiology

The Nature Insight on Glycochemistry & Glycobiology features seven reviews highlighting some of the hottest current topics in glycochemistry and glycobiology.

Several surveys give an overview of the full range of carbohydrate synthesis in vivo and in vitro. They cover the intriguing mechanisms of prokaryotic carbohydrate biosynthesis as well as the most advanced current chemical techniques. These reviews provide great insight into the medical application of glycobiology; one review in particular focuses on HIV envelope glycosylation as a target for drug development.

The biological consequences and contexts of two vastly different glycosylation phenomena – sialic acid as the terminal carbohydrate of cell surface protein glycans, and N–acetylglucosamine as a monosaccharidic modification of nucleoplasmic proteins – are covered by two further reviews. In addition, the readers' attention is drawn to the intricate effect that heparan sulfate proteoglycans have on mammalian tissue, shedding light on the role of carbohydrates in various physiological processes.

Finkelstein, J.
Glycochemistry & Glycobiology
Nature 446, 999 (2007).
doi:10.1038/446999a
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/full/446999a.html

Galoni, D.P., Gin, D.Y.
Chemical glycosylation in the synthesis of glycoconjugate antitumour vaccines
Nature 446, 1000 - 1007 (2007).
doi:10.1038/nature05813
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05813.html

Thibodeaux, C.J., Melançon, C.E., Liu, H-w.
Unusual sugar biosynthesis and natural product glycodiversification
Nature 446, 1008 - 1016 (2007).
doi:10.1038/nature05814
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05814.html

Hart, G.W., Housley, M.P., Slawson, C.
Cycling of O-linked beta-N-acetylglucosamine on nucleocytoplasmic proteins
Nature 446, 1017 - 1022 (2007).
doi:10.1038/nature05815
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05815.html

Varki, A.
Glycan-based interactions involving vertebrate sialic-acid-recognizing proteins
Nature 446, 1023 - 1029 (2007).
doi:10.1038/nature05816
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05816.html

Bishop, J.R., Schuksz, M., Esko, J.D.
Heparan sulphate proteoglycans fine-tune mammalian physiology
Nature 446, 1030 - 1037 (2007).
doi:10.1038/nature05817
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05817.html

Scanlan, C.N., Offer, J., Zitzmann, N., Dwek, R.A.
Exploiting the defensive sugars of HIV-1 for drug and vaccine design
Nature 446, 1038 – 1045 (2007).
doi:10.1038/nature05818
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05818.html

Seeberger, P.H., Werz, D.B.
Synthesis and medical applications of oligosaccharides
Nature 446, 1046 - 1051 (2007).
doi:10.1038/nature05819
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/full/nature05819.html

Author: Mirko von Elstermann