Improved Enzymatic Synthesis of Oligosaccharides

Enzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharides, while a great improvement over chemical methods, remains expensive due to the difficulty in producing the nucleotide diphosphate sugars (NDPG’s: e.g. uridine diphosphoglucose, UDPG) that are the substrates for the glycosyl transferases. The Withers group at the University of British Columbia has developed methods of using simple, readily made, glycosyl fluorides, in the presence of the appropriate nucleotide diphosphate, as alternate substrates for NPDG-using glycosyl transferases. These new methods lead to the efficient high yielding synthesis of the oligosaccharide product. These glycosyl fluoride substrates therefore offer the potential of an inexpensive alternative donor substrate in the synthesis of oligosaccharides as well a means of generating steady state concentrations of nucleotide diphosphate sugars for in situ use by other enzymes. Advantages:
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Inexpensive and uncomplicated synthesis of oligosaccharides.
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Strategy for expanding the substrate specificity, and therefore the synthetic utility, of a given enzyme through a process of ’substrate engineering’.
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Facilitates rational control of substrate specificity and regioselectivity using wild-type enzymes

Type of Offer: Licensing



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