Towards Biomimetic Recognition of Glycans by Synthetic Receptors

Abstract

Carbohydrates are abundant in Nature, where they are mostly assembled within glycans as free polysaccharides or conjugated to a variety of biological molecules such as proteins and lipids. Glycans exert several functions, including protein folding, stability, solubility, resistance to proteolysis, intracellular traffic, antigenicity, and recognition by carbohydrate-binding proteins. Interestingly, misregulation of their biosynthesis that leads to changes in glycan structures is frequently recognized as a mark of a disease state. Because of glycan ubiquity, carbohydrate binding agents (CBAs) targeting glycans can lead to a deeper understanding of their function and to the development of new diagnostic and prognostic strategies. Synthetic receptors selectively recognizing specific carbohydrates of biological interest have been developed over the past three decades. In addition to the success obtained in the effective recognition of monosaccharides, synthetic receptors recognizing more complex guests have also been developed, including di- and oligosaccharide fragments of glycans, shedding light on the structural and functional requirements necessary for an effective receptor. In this review, the most relevant achievements in molecular recognition of glycans and their fragments will be summarized, highlighting potentials and future perspectives of glycan-targeting synthetic receptors.

Keywords: biomimetic receptors; carbohydrate-binding agents; glycans; host–guest systems; molecular recognition.