Achievements and impacts of glycosylation reactions involved in natural product biosynthesis in prokaryotes

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2013 Jul;97(13):5691-704. doi: 10.1007/s00253-013-4978-7. Epub 2013 May 30.

Abstract

Bioactive natural products, such as polyketides, flavonoids, glycopeptides, and aminoglycosides, have been used as therapeutic agents. Many of them contain structurally diverse sugar moieties attached to the aglycone core structures. Glycosyltransferases (GTs) catalyze the attachment of nucleotide-activated sugar substrates to acceptor aglycones. Because these sugar moieties are usually essential for biological activity, in vivo pathway engineering in prokaryotic hosts and in vitro enzymatic approaches coupled with GT engineering are currently being used to synthesize novel glycosylated derivatives, and some of them exhibited improved biological activities compared to the parent molecules. Therefore, harnessing the potential of diverse glycosylation reactions in prokaryotes will increase the structural diversity of natural products and the possibility to generate new bioactive products.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Bacteria / metabolism*
  • Biological Products / metabolism*
  • Glycosylation
  • Glycosyltransferases / metabolism

Substances

  • Biological Products
  • Glycosyltransferases