The Amazing Transglycosylation Activity of Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases

Bacterial glycobiotechnology: A biosynthetic route for the production of biopharmaceutical glycans

The recent advancement in the human glycome and progress in the development of an inclusive network of glycosylation pathways allow the incorporation of suitable machinery for protein modification in non-natural hosts and explore novel opportunities for constructing next-generation tailored glycans and glycoconjugates. Fortunately, the emerging field of bacterial metabolic engineering has enabled the production of tailored biopolymers by harnessing living microbial factories (prokaryotes) as whole-cell biocatalysts. Microbial catalysts offer sophisticated means to develop a variety of valuable polysaccharides in bulk quantities for practical clinical applications. Glycans production through this technique is highly efficient and cost-effective, as it does not involve expensive initial materials. Metabolic glycoengineering primarily focuses on utilizing small metabolite molecules to alter biosynthetic pathways, optimization of cellular processes for glycan and glycoconjugate production, characteristic to a specific organism to produce interest tailored glycans in microbes, using preferably cheap and simple substrate. However, metabolic engineering faces one of the unique challenges, such as the need for an enzyme to catalyze desired substrate conversion when natural native substrates are already present. So, in metabolic engineering, such challenges are evaluated, and different strategies have been developed to overcome them. The generation of glycans and glycoconjugates via metabolic intermediate pathways can still be supported by glycol modeling achieved through metabolic engineering. It is evident that modern glycans engineering requires adoption of improved strain engineering strategies for creating competent glycoprotein expression platforms in bacterial hosts, in the future. These strategies include logically designing and introducing orthogonal glycosylation pathways, identifying metabolic engineering targets at the genome level, and strategically improving pathway performance (for example, through genetic modification of pathway enzymes). Here, we highlight current strategies, applications, and recent progress in metabolic engineering for producing high-value tailored glycans and their applications in biotherapeutics and diagnostics.

GH18 endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases use distinct mechanisms to process hybrid-type N-linked glycans

N-glycosylation is one of the most abundant posttranslational modifications of proteins, essential for many physiological processes, including protein folding, protein stability, oligomerization and aggregation, and molecular recognition events. Defects in the N-glycosylation pathway cause diseases that are classified as congenital disorders of glycosylation. The ability to manipulate protein N-glycosylation is critical not only to our fundamental understanding of biology but also for the development of new drugs for a wide range of human diseases. Chemoenzymatic synthesis using engineered endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases (ENGases) has been used extensively to modulate the chemistry of N-glycosylated proteins. However, defining the molecular mechanisms by which ENGases specifically recognize and process N-glycans remains a major challenge. Here we present the X-ray crystal structure of the ENGase EndoBT-3987 from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron in complex with a hybrid-type glycan product. In combination with alanine scanning mutagenesis, molecular docking calculations and enzymatic activity measurements conducted on a chemically engineered monoclonal antibody substrate unveil two mechanisms for hybrid-type recognition and processing by paradigmatic ENGases. Altogether, the experimental data provide pivotal insight into the molecular mechanism of substrate recognition and specificity for GH18 ENGases and further advance our understanding of chemoenzymatic synthesis and remodeling of homogeneous N-glycan glycoproteins.

Glycoengineering: scratching the surface

At the surface of many cells is a compendium of glycoconjugates that form an interface between the cell and its surroundings; the glycocalyx. The glycocalyx serves several functions that have captivated the interest of many groups. Given its privileged residence, this meshwork of sugar-rich biomolecules is poised to transmit signals across the cellular membrane, facilitating communication with the extracellular matrix and mediating important signalling cascades. As a product of the glycan biosynthetic machinery, the glycocalyx can serve as a partial mirror that reports on the cell's glycosylation status. The glycocalyx can also serve as an information-rich barrier, withholding the entry of pathogens into the underlying plasma membrane through glycan-rich molecular messages. In this review, we provide an overview of the different approaches devised to engineer glycans at the cell surface, highlighting considerations of each, as well as illuminating the grand challenges that face the next era of ‘glyco-engineers’. While we have learned much from these techniques, it is evident that much is left to be unearthed.

Effect of LPMO on the Hydrolysis of Crystalline Chitin by Chitinase A and β-N-Acetylglucosaminidase from Paenibacillus sp

We performed cloning and expression of chitinase A (Pb-ChiA), β-GlcNAcase (Pb-GlcNAcase), and lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase (Pb-LPMO) genes from Paenibacillus sp. The analysis of the hydrolysis products indicated Pb-ChiA to be an exo-type chitinase with 10-fold activity toward β-chitin as compared with α-chitin. The sequence of Pb-GlcNAcase was found to be similar to that of β-N-acetylhexosaminidase from P. barengoltzii (99%, WP_016313754.1). Pb-LPMO was expressed in the Brevibacillus expression system. Pb-ChiA was found to have affinity toward crystalline chitin higher than that of Pb-LPMO. Pb-LPMO boosted the activity of Pb-ChiA toward crystalline α-chitin but not toward crystalline β-chitin. When Pb-LPMO (3 μM) was added to the reaction mixture during the hydrolysis of crystalline α-chitin by Pb-ChiA, hydrolysis products at two-fold concentration were obtained. However, the hydrolysis products decreased upon addition of more than 3 μM Pb-LPMO to the reaction mixture.

Structural insights into the mechanisms and specificities of IgG-active endoglycosidases

The conserved N-glycan on Asn297 of immunoglobulin G (IgG) has significant impacts on antibody effector functions, and is a frequent target for antibody engineering. Chemoenzymatic synthesis has emerged as a strategy for producing antibodies with homogenous glycosylation and improved effector functions. Central to this strategy is the use of enzymes with activity on the Asn297 glycan. EndoS and EndoS2, produced by Streptococcus pyogenes, are endoglycosidases with remarkable specificity for Asn297 glycosylation, making them ideal tools for chemoenzymatic synthesis. Although both enzymes are specific for IgG, EndoS2 recognizes a wider range of glycans than EndoS. Recent progress has been made in understanding the structural basis for their activities on antibodies. In this review, we examine the molecular mechanism of glycosidic bond cleavage by these enzymes and how specific point mutations convert them into glycosynthases. We also discuss the structural basis for differences in the glycan repertoire that IgG-active endoglycosidases recognize, which focuses on the structure of the loops within the glycoside hydrolase (GH) domain. Finally, we discuss the important contributions of carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) to endoglycosidase activity, and how CBMs work in concert with GH domains to produce optimal activity on IgG.

Chemoenzymatic Methods for the Synthesis of Glycoproteins

Glycosylation is one of the most prevalent posttranslational modifications that profoundly affects the structure and functions of proteins in a wide variety of biological recognition events. However, the structural complexity and heterogeneity of glycoproteins, usually resulting from the variations of glycan components and/or the sites of glycosylation, often complicates detailed structure-function relationship studies and hampers the therapeutic applications of glycoproteins. To address these challenges, various chemical and biological strategies have been developed for producing glycan-defined homogeneous glycoproteins. This review highlights recent advances in the development of chemoenzymatic methods for synthesizing homogeneous glycoproteins, including the generation of various glycosynthases for synthetic purposes, endoglycosidase-catalyzed glycoprotein synthesis and glycan remodeling, and direct enzymatic glycosylation of polypeptides and proteins. The scope, limitation, and future directions of each method are discussed.

Acceptor range of endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase mutant endo-CC N180H: from monosaccharide to antibody

The endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase mutant endo-CC N180H transfers glycan from sialylglycopeptide (SGP) to various acceptors. The scope and limitations of low-molecular-weight acceptors were investigated. Several homogeneous glycan-containing compounds, especially those with potentially useful labels or functional moieties, and possible reagents in glycoscience were synthesized. The 1,3-diol structure is important in acceptor molecules in glycan transfer reactions mediated by endo-CC N180H as well as by endo-M-N175Q. Glycan remodelling of antibodies was explored using core-fucose-deficient anti-CCR4 antibody with SGP and endo-CC N180H. Homogeneity of the glycan in the antibody was confirmed by mass spectrometry without glycan cleavage.

The ENGases: versatile biocatalysts for the production of homogeneous N-linked glycopeptides and glycoproteins

The endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases (ENGases) are an enzyme class (EC 3.2.1.96) produced by a range of organisms, ranging from bacteria, through fungi, to higher order species, including humans, comprising two-sub families of glycosidases which all cleave the chitobiose core of N-linked glycans. Synthetic applications of these enzymes, i.e. to catalyse the reverse of their natural hydrolytic mode of action, allow the attachment of N-glycans to a wide variety of substrates which contain an N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residue to act as an 'acceptor' handle. The use of N-glycan oxazolines, high energy intermediates on the hydrolytic pathway, as activated donors allows their high yielding attachment to almost any amino acid, peptide or protein that contains a GlcNAc residue as an acceptor. The synthetic effectiveness of these biocatalysts has been significantly increased by the production of mutant glycosynthases; enzymes which can still catalyse synthetic processes using oxazolines as donors, but which do not hydrolyse the reaction products. ENGase biocatalysts are now finding burgeoning application for the production of biologically active glycopeptides and glycoproteins, including therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for which the oligosaccharides have been remodelled to optimise effector functions.

Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of the glucagon containing N-linked oligosaccharide and its characterization

The chemo-enzymatic synthesis of an artificially N-glycosylated derivative of glucagon, a peptide hormone that regulates the blood sugar level, is described. We synthesized the glycosylated glucagon by chemical synthesis of an N-acetylglucosaminyl peptide and enzymatic transfer of an oligosaccharide using the transglycosylation activity of the glycosynthase-like mutant of Mucor hiemalis endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (Endo-M) and sialo-oligosaccharide oxazoline as a donor substrate. The sialo-oligosaccharide-attached glucagon synthesized showed high resistance against protease degradation and stimulated the release of glucose from mouse hepatocytes when added to cells. The synthetic glucagon showed slightly higher activity than native glucagon and has potential as a therapeutic agent for treating diabetic patients.

An Effective Bacterial Fucosidase for Glycoprotein Remodeling

Fucose is an important component of many oligo- and polysaccharide structures as well as glycoproteins and glycolipids, which are often associated with a variety of physiological processes ranging from fertilization, embryogenesis, signal transduction, and disease progression, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation, and cancer. The enzyme α-l-fucosidase is involved in the cleavage of the fucosidic bond in glycans and glycoconjugates, particularly the Fuc-α-1,2-Gal, Fuc-α-1,3/4-GlcNAc, and Fuc-α-1,6-GlcNAc linkages. Here, we report a highly efficient fucosidase, designated as BfFucH identified from a library of bacterial glycosidases expressed in E. coli from the CAZy database, which is capable of hydrolyzing the aforementioned fucosidic linkages, especially the α-1,6-linkage from the N-linked Fuc-α-1,6-GlcNAc residue on glycoproteins. Using BfFucH coupled with endoglycosidases and the emerging glycosynthases allows glycoengineering of IgG antibodies to provide homogeneous glycoforms with well-defined glycan structures and optimal effector functions.

Chemical Methods for Encoding and Decoding of Posttranslational Modifications

A large array of posttranslational modifications can dramatically change the properties of proteins and influence different aspects of their biological function such as enzymatic activity, binding interactions, and proteostasis. Despite the significant knowledge that has been gained about the function of posttranslational modifications using traditional biological techniques, the analysis of the site-specific effects of a particular modification, the identification of the full complement of modified proteins in the proteome, and the detection of new types of modifications remains challenging. Over the years, chemical methods have contributed significantly in both of these areas of research. This review highlights several posttranslational modifications where chemistry-based approaches have made significant contributions to our ability to both prepare homogeneously modified proteins and identify and characterize particular modifications in complex biological settings. As the number and chemical diversity of documented posttranslational modifications continues to rise, we believe that chemical strategies will be essential to advance the field in years to come.

Highly efficient transglycosylation of sialo-complex-type oligosaccharide using Coprinopsis cinerea endoglycosidase and sugar oxazoline

OBJECTIVES

To establish an efficient method of chemoenzymatic modification for making N-linked oligosaccharide chains of glycoproteins structurally homogeneous, which crucially affects their bioactivities.

RESULTS

Deglycosylated-RNase B (GlcNAc-RNase B; acceptor), sialylglyco (SG)-oxazoline (donor) and an N180H mutant of Coprinopsis cinerea endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (Endo-CC^N180H) were employed. pH 7.5 was ideal for both SG-oxazoline's stability and Endo-CC's transglycosylation reaction. The most efficient reaction conditions for producing glycosylated-RNase B, virtually modified completely with sialo-biantennary-type complex oligosaccharide, were: 80 μg GlcNAc-RNase B, 200 μg SG-oxazoline and 3 μg Endo-CC^N180H in 20 μl 20 mM Tris/HCl pH 7.5 at 30 °C for 30-60 min.

CONCLUSIONS

This transglycosylation method using SG-oxazoline and Endo-CC^N180H is beneficial for producing pharmaceutical glycoproteins modified with homogenous biantennary-complex-type oligosaccharides.

Emerging facets of prokaryotic glycosylation

Glycosylation of proteins is one of the most prevalent post-translational modifications occurring in nature, with a wide repertoire of biological implications. Pathways for the main types of this modification, the N- and O-glycosylation, can be found in all three domains of life-the Eukarya, Bacteria and Archaea-thereby following common principles, which are valid also for lipopolysaccharides, lipooligosaccharides and glycopolymers. Thus, studies on any glycoconjugate can unravel novel facets of the still incompletely understood fundamentals of protein N- and O-glycosylation. While it is estimated that more than two-thirds of all eukaryotic proteins would be glycosylated, no such estimate is available for prokaryotic glycoproteins, whose understanding is lagging behind, mainly due to the enormous variability of their glycan structures and variations in the underlying glycosylation processes. Combining glycan structural information with bioinformatic, genetic, biochemical and enzymatic data has opened up an avenue for in-depth analyses of glycosylation processes as a basis for glycoengineering endeavours. Here, the common themes of glycosylation are conceptualised for the major classes of prokaryotic (i.e. bacterial and archaeal) glycoconjugates, with a special focus on glycosylated cell-surface proteins. We describe the current knowledge of biosynthesis and importance of these glycoconjugates in selected pathogenic and beneficial microbes.

Endoglycosidases for the Synthesis of Polysaccharides and Glycoconjugates

Recent advances in glycobiology have implicated essential roles of oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates in many important biological recognition processes, including intracellular signaling, cell adhesion, cell differentiation, cancer progression, host-pathogen interactions, and immune responses. A detailed understanding of the biological functions, as well as the development of carbohydrate-based therapeutics, often requires structurally well-defined oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates, which are usually difficult to isolate in pure form from natural sources. To meet with this urgent need, chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis has become increasingly important as the major means to provide homogeneous compounds for functional glycocomics studies and for drug/vaccine development. Chemoenzymatic synthesis, an approach that combines chemical synthesis and enzymatic manipulations, is often the method of choice for constructing complex oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates that are otherwise difficult to achieve by purely chemical synthesis. Among these, endoglycosidases, a class of glycosidases that hydrolyze internal glycosidic bonds in glycoconjugates and polysaccharides, are emerging as a very attractive class of enzymes for synthetic purposes, due to their transglycosylation activity and their capability of transferring oligosaccharide units en bloc in a single step, in contrast to the limitation of monosaccharide transfers by common glycosyltransferases. In this chapter, we provide an overview on the application of endoglycosidases for the synthesis of complex carbohydrates, including oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, glycoproteins, glycolipids, proteoglycans, and other biologically relevant polysaccharides. The scope, limitation, and future directions of endoglycosidase-catalyzed synthesis are discussed.

Transglycosylation Activity of Glycosynthase Mutants of Endo-β-N-Acetylglucosaminidase from Coprinopsis cinerea

Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (ENGase), which catalyzes hydrolysis of N-linked oligosaccharides, is a useful tool for analyzing oligosaccharide contents of glycoproteins. However, there are only a few known ENGases that can catalyze the hydrolysis of human complex type oligosaccharides, and although commercially available, they are expensive. Here, we report the cloning of two ENGase encoding cDNAs from the basidiomycete fungus Coprinopsis cinerea, Endo-CC1 and Endo-CC2. We successfully expressed recombinant His₆-tagged Endo-CC1 and Endo-CC2 in Escherichia coli and purified them for enzymatic characterization. Both Endo-CC1 and Endo-CC2 showed hydrolytic activity on high-mannose and complex type oligosaccharides. Since Endo-CC1 could be prepared more easily than Endo-CC2 from E. coli cultures, we examined the enzymatic properties of Endo-CC1 in detail. Our results showed that Endo-CC1 acted on both N-linked high-mannose type and sialobiantennary type complex oligosaccharides of glycoproteins RNase B and human transferrin, respectively, but not on the sialotriantennary type complex oligosaccharide of glycoprotein fetuin. Examination of the transglycosylation activity of Endo-CC1 revealed that the wild-type Endo-CC1 could not transfer the sialobiantennary type complex oligosaccharide onto the deglycosylated RNase B. To obtain an Endo-CC1 mutant with desired transglycosylation activity, we performed mutation analysis of the active site residue Asn 180 (N180), known to be important for catalysis, by individually replacing it with the remaining 19 amino acid residues. Transglycosylation analyses of these mutants led us to identify one mutant, namely Endo-CC1^N180H, which exhibited the desired transglycosylation activity. Taken together, we suggest that Endo-CC1 would potentially be a valuable tool for analyzing oligosaccharides on glycoproteins, as large quantities of it could be made available more easily and less expensively than the currently used enzyme, Endo-M.

Chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of glycoproteins for deciphering functions

Glycoproteins are an important class of biomolecules involved in a number of biological recognition processes. However, natural and recombinant glycoproteins are usually produced as mixtures of glycoforms that differ in the structures of the pendent glycans, which are difficult to separate in pure glycoforms. As a result, synthetic homogeneous glycopeptides and glycoproteins have become indispensable probes for detailed structural and functional studies. A number of elegant chemical and biological strategies have been developed for synthetic construction of tailor-made, full-size glycoproteins to address specific biological problems. In this review, we highlight recent advances in chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of homogeneous glycoproteins. Selected examples are given to demonstrate the applications of tailor-made, glycan-defined glycoproteins for deciphering glycosylation functions.

Synthesis of post-translationally modified proteins

Post-translational modifications of proteins can have dramatic effect on the function of proteins. Significant research effort has gone into understanding the effect of particular modifications on protein parameters. In the present paper, I review some of the recently developed tools for the synthesis of proteins modified with single post-translational modifications at specific sites in the protein, such as amber codon suppression technologies, tag and modify, and native chemical ligation.

A two-step enzymatic glycosylation of polypeptides with complex N-glycans

A chemoenyzmatic method for direct glycosylation of polypeptides is described. The method consists of two site-specific enzymatic glycosylation steps: introduction of a glucose moiety at the consensus N-glycosylation sequence (NXS/T) in a polypeptide by an N-glycosyltransferase (NGT) and attachment of a complex N-glycan to the glucose primer by an endoglycosidase (ENGase)-catalyzed transglycosylation. Our experiments demonstrated that a relatively small excess of the UDP-Glc (the donor substrate) was sufficient for an effective glucosylation of polypeptides by the NGT, and different high-mannose and complex type N-glycans could be readily transferred to the glucose moiety by ENGases to provide full-size glycopeptides. The usefulness of the chemoenzymatic method was exemplified by an efficient synthesis of a complex glycoform of polypeptide C34, a potent HIV inhibitor derived from HIV-1 gp41. A comparative study indicated that the Glc-peptide was equally efficient as the natural GlcNAc-peptide to serve as an acceptor in the transglycosylation with sugar oxazoline as the donor substrate. Interestingly, the Glc-Asn linked glycopeptide was completely resistant to PNGase F digestion, in contrast to the GlcNAc-Asn linked natural glycopeptide that is an excellent substrate for hydrolysis. In addition, the Glc-Asn linked glycopeptide showed at least 10-fold lower hydrolytic activity toward Endo-M than the natural GlcNAc-Asn linked glycopeptide. The chemoenzymatic glycosylation method described here provides an efficient way to introducing complex N-glycans into polypeptides, for gain of novel properties that could be valuable for drug discovery.

Exo- and endoglycosidases revisited

Many glycosidases, which work as useful reagents for the studies of structures and functions of free and conjugated oligosaccharides, have been found and thoroughly purified. These enzymes are classified into exo- and endoglycosidases by their glycon specificities. Their usefulness and limits as reagents are explained in detail in this review.Endoglycosidases, which were originally found in the culture fluid of bacteria and in the extracts of plants, are now widely found in the mammals including humans. The physiological roles of these enzymes are discussed in relation to the oligosaccharides accumulated in the urine of patients with exoglycosidase deficiencies. Furthermore, PNGase is found to play important roles in the ER-associated degradation pathway of glycoproteins.Recent studies of the glycosidases in Bifidobacteria have revealed that GNB/LNB pathway, which uniquely exist in this bacteria, works for the expression of Bifidus factor activity of human milk oligosaccharides, an important topic in the baby nutrition. This interesting field will be introduced in detail in one section of this article

Chemoenzymatic glycoengineering of intact IgG antibodies for gain of functions

The fine structures of Fc N-glycans can modulate the effector functions of IgG antibodies. It has been demonstrated that lack of the core fucose on the Fc N-glycans leads to drastic enhancement of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), while terminal α2,6-sialylation of Fc glycan plays a critical role for the anti-inflammatory activity of human intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). We describe in this paper a highly efficient chemoenzymatic method for site-selective Fc glycoengineering of intact monoclonal antibody and IVIG. Two new glycosynthase mutants (EndoS-D233A and D233Q) were generated by site-directed mutagenesis of EndoS (an endoglycosidase from Streptococcus pyogenes ) and were found to be capable of efficiently transferring predefined N-glycans from corresponding glycan oxazolines to the Fc-deglycosylated intact IgGs without product hydrolysis. As a model study, rituximab (a therapeutic monoclonal antibody) was successfully transformed from mixtures of G0F, G1F, and G2F glycoforms to well-defined homogeneous glycoforms, including a fully sialylated (S2G2F) glycoform that may gain anti-inflammatory activity, a nonfucosylated G2 glycoform that showed significantly enhanced FcγIIIa receptor-binding activity, and an azido-tagged glycoform that can be further transformed into other glycoforms. We also found that EndoS could selectively remove the Fc N-glycans in the presence of FAB glycosylation. This finding, coupled with the remarkable transglycosylation activity of the EndoS glycosynthase mutants, permitted a highly selective glycoengineering of the IVIG's Fc glycans into a fully sialylated Fc glycoform, which may possess significantly enhanced anti-inflammatory activity. The glycoengineering approach described here provides a general platform to modulate the effector functions of IgG antibodies, enabling the optimization of therapeutic efficacy and gain of new functions of monoclonal antibodies and IVIG.

Remarkable transglycosylation activity of glycosynthase mutants of endo-D, an endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Streptococcus pneumoniae

Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Streptococcus pneumoniae (Endo-D) is an endoglycosidase capable of hydrolyzing the Fc N-glycan of intact IgG antibodies after sequential removal of the sialic acid, galactose, and internal GlcNAc residues in the N-glycan. Endo-D also possesses transglycosylation activity with sugar oxazoline as the donor substrate, but the transglycosylation yield is low due to enzymatic hydrolysis of the donor substrate and the product. We report here our study on the hydrolytic and transglycosylation activity of recombinant Endo-D and its selected mutants. We found that Endo-D preferred core-fucosylated N-glycan for hydrolysis but favored nonfucosylated GlcNAc acceptor for transglycosylation. Several mutants showed significantly enhanced transglycosylation efficiency over the wild type enzyme. Two mutants (N322Q and N322A) were identified as typical glycosynthases that demonstrated remarkable transglycosylation activity with only marginal or no product hydrolysis activity. Kinetic studies revealed that the N322Q [corrected]and N322A glycosynthases had much higher catalytic efficiency for glycosylating the nonfucosylated GlcNAc acceptor. In comparison, the N322Q was much more efficient than N322A for transglycosylation. However, N322Q and N322A [corrected] could not take more complex N-glycan oxazoline as substrate for transglycosylation, indicating their strict substrate specificity. The usefulness of the N322Q glycosynthase was exemplified by its application for efficient glycosylation remodeling of IgG-Fc domain.

Emerging technologies for making glycan-defined glycoproteins

Protein glycosylation is a common and complex posttranslational modification of proteins, which expands functional diversity while boosting structural heterogeneity. Glycoproteins, the end products of such a modification, are typically produced as mixtures of glycoforms possessing the same polypeptide backbone but differing in the site of glycosylation and/or in the structures of pendant glycans, from which single glycoforms are difficult to isolate. The urgent need for glycan-defined glycoproteins in both detailed structure-function relationship studies and therapeutic applications has stimulated an extensive interest in developing various methods for manipulating protein glycosylation. This review highlights emerging technologies that hold great promise in making a variety of glycan-defined glycoproteins, with a particular emphasis in the following three areas: specific glycoengineering of host biosynthetic pathways, in vitro chemoenzymatic glycosylation remodeling, and chemoselective and site-specific glycosylation of proteins.