Cited by 39Click Chemistry and ApplicationsCarbohydrate Chemistry and SynthesisGlycosylation and Glycoproteins Research

Biosynthetic Glycan Labeling

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Marando, Victoria M., Kim, Daria E., Calabretta, Phillip J., Kraft, Matthew B., Bryson, Bryan D., Kiessling, Laura L.·2021·Journal of the American Chemical Society

Abstract

Glycans are ubiquitous and play important biological roles, yet chemical methods for probing their structure and function within cells remain limited. Strategies for studying other biomacromolecules, such as proteins, often exploit chemoselective reactions for covalent modification, capture, or imaging. Unlike amino acids that constitute proteins, glycan building blocks lack distinguishing reactivity because they are composed primarily of polyol isomers. Moreover, encoding glycan variants through genetic manipulation is complex. Therefore, we formulated a new, generalizable strategy for chemoselective glycan modification that directly takes advantage of cellular glycosyltransferases. Many of these enzymes are selective for the products they generate yet promiscuous in their donor preferences. Thus, we designed reagents with bioorthogonal handles that function as glycosyltransferase substrate surrogates. We validated the feasibility of this approach by synthesizing and testing probes of d -arabinofuranose ( d -Ara f ), a monosaccharide found in bacteria and an essential component of the cell wall that protects mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis . The result is the first probe capable of selectively labeling arabinofuranose-containing glycans. Our studies serve as a platform for developing new chemoselective labeling agents for other privileged monosaccharides. This probe revealed an asymmetric distribution of d -Ara f residues during mycobacterial cell growth and could be used to detect mycobacteria in THP1-derived macrophages.

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  • Bioorthogonal metabolic labeling allows the biosynthesis of trehalose-containing molecules, peptidoglycans, and arabinan to be visualized in situ in both M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis.

    “Nevertheless, there are emerging efforts to apply modern (click chemistry) approaches of bioorthogonal metabolic labeling in both M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis, allowing the biosynthesis of trehalose-containing molecules, peptidoglycans, and arabinan to be visualized in situ (116, 163–165).”

    From Mycobacterium smegmatis: The Vanguard of Mycobacterial Research (2023) · cites this paper as [165]

    The live-cell imaging passage (section labeled Abstract; page unavailable) reports bioorthogonal labeling of arabinofuranose-containing cell-wall glycans in M. smegmatis. It mentions peptidoglycan and a trehalose-based probe as comparison tools, not as targets visualized by this paper's approach. The experiments described do not show labeling in M. tuberculosis, so this source supports only part of the cited sentence. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [33]Kolbe K; Mockl L; Sohst V; Brandenburg J; Engel R; Malm S; Brauchle C; Holst O; Lindhorst TK; Reiling N, Azido Pentoses: A New Tool To Efficiently Label Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates. Chembiochem 2017, 18, 1172– 1176. 28249101

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Authors
Marando, V. M., Kim, D. E., Calabretta, P. J., Kraft, M. B., Bryson, B. D., & Kiessling, L. L.
Affiliations
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard (US)
Corresponding author
Kiessling, Laura L.
Venue
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Published
2021-10-04
Volume
143
Issue
40
Pages
16337-16342
ISSN
  • 0002-7863 (ISSN-L)
  • 1520-5126
OpenAlex
W3202157456
Cited by
39
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 2
FWCI
2.38
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
Funders
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01 Al-126592, R01A1022553)
  • National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (R01AR073252)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (F32 GM142288, U01GM125288)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Click Chemistry and Applications
  • Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Carbohydrate Chemistry and Synthesis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Glycosylation and Glycoproteins Research
Keywords
glycan labeling, chemoselective labeling, glycosyltransferases, bioorthogonal probes, mycobacterial cell wall, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, glycan probes, mycobacterial detection, macrophages
MeSH terms
Humans, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Polysaccharides, Glycosyltransferases

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