Microbial Glycobiology

This book presents in an easy-to-read format a summary of the important central aspects of microbial glycobiology, i.e. the study of carbohydrates as related to the biology of microorganisms. Microbial glycobiology represents a multidisciplinary and emerging area with implications for a range of basic and applied research fields, as well as having industrial, medical and biotechnological implications.

• Individual chapters provided by leading international scientists in the field yield insightful, concise and stimulating reviews
• Provides researchers with an overview and synthesis of the latest research
• Each chapter begins with a brief 200 word Summary/Abstract detailing the topic and focus of the chapter, as well as the concepts to be addressed
• Allows researchers to see at a glance what each chapter will cover
• Each chapter includes a Research Focus Box
• Identifies important problems that still need to be solved and areas that require further investigation
  
  
  

Researchers and graduate students in both academia and industry:

Microbiologists
Infectious disease specialists

These researchers are trying to understand how certain microbial pathogens (protozoa, bacteria, fungi, viruses etc) cause disease in humans. With insights from microbial glycobiology new diagnostic methods can be designed to detect the infectious agent and also to determine if one bug is more virulent than another, thus, helping disease diagnosis.

Microbial glycobiology allows them to examine the role that sugars play in the disease process and help them determine a way to prevent a pathogen causing disease. Hence, new insights will be gained that could aid boost the immune system, thereby new biotheraputics and vaccines are being developed

Biochemists
Carbohydrate chemists (analytical and synthetic)

By determining the structure of glycosylated proteins, lipids and other natural products from microbes, researchers can reveal the location of the sugars. They then have the ability to modify and control which sugars are attached and exactly how they are attached. This is important as it enables them to modify glycosylated biomolecules that are important in disease processes and turn these into better drugs.

Researchers in biomedical, diagnostic and biopharmaceutical companies
Pharmacologists are using microbial glycobiology to produce carbohydrate-based diagnostics, vaccines, drugs and immunotherapeutics.

From the insights gained of the enzymes used in the natural synthesis of the glycosylated molecules in microbes, manipulations using these enzymes can be made to synthesise newer glycosylated structures that can be used in therapeutics or for obtaining correct glycosylation of cloned human proteins used in biotherapeutics.

Since glycosylation determines the half-life of many biotherapeutics, usage of knowledge from glycosylation systems from microbes can help manufacture more effective therapeutics.

Molecular and cell biologists

These researchers are trying to map the complex pathways of how specific sugar polymers are made by pathogenic microbes including bacteria and fungi. The outcome of this research will allow them to identify important drug targets that could be used to screen for novel antimicrobials against a variety of infections. Also, the information gained allows manipulation of biosynthetic pathways in genetic engineering of a variety of glycosylation or carbohydrate products.

Food industry and biotechnology industry

These researchers are using microbial polysaccharides as thickening agents in food products and as probiotic materials, e.g. in yogurts. This plays an important role in the development of so-called designer foods.

In industrial processes, certain microbial polysaccharides are involved in corrosion and biofouling and knowledge gained of microbial glycobiology is being applied to overcome these problems.
The biotechnology industry is using and manipulating bacteria to produce glycosylated products of importance for the agrifood and biopharma industrial sectors.

Part I. Microbial glycolipids, glyoproteins and glycopolymers 1. Overview of the glycosylated components of the bacterial cell wall 2. Bacterial cell wall envelope peptidoglycan 3. Core oligosaccharide and lipid A components of lipopolysaccharides 4. O-Specific polysaccharides of Gram-negative bacteria 5. Teichoic acids, lipoteichoic acids, and related cell wall glycopolymers of Gram-positive bacteria 6. Bacterial capsular polysaccharides and exopolysaccharides 7. Bacterial surface layer glycoproteins and “non-classical” secondary cell wall polymers 8. Glycosylation of bacterial and archaeal flagellins 9. Glycosylated components of the mycobacterial cell wall: structure and function 10. Glycoconjugate structure and function in fungal cell walls 11. Cytoplasmic carbohydrate molecules: trehalose and glycogen 12. Glycosylated compounds of parasitic protozoa 13. Analytical approaches towards the structural characterization of microbial wall glycopolymers 14. Single-molecule characterization of microbial polysaccharides 15. Viral surface glycoproteins in carbohydrate recognition: structure and modeling Part II. Synthesis of microbial glycosylated components; A. Biosynthesis and biosynthetic processes 16. Biosynthesis of bacterial peptidoglycan 17. Biosynthesis and membrane assembly of lipid A 18. Biosynthesis of O-antigen chains and assembly 19. Biosynthesis of cell wall teichoic acid polymers 20. Biosynthesis and assembly of capsular polysaccharides 21. Biosynthesis of the mycobacterial cell envelope components 22. Biosynthesis of fungal and yeast glycans B. Chemical synthesis 23. Chemical synthesis of bacterial lipid A 24. Chemical synthesis of the core oligosaccharide of bacterial lipopolysaccharide 25. Chemical synthesis of lipoichoic acid and derivatives 26. Chemical synthesis of parasitic glycoconjugates and phosphoglycans Part III. Microbe-host glycosylated interactions 27. Bacterial lectin-like interactions in cell recognition and adhesion 28. Lectin-like interactions in virus-cell recognition: human immunodeficiency virus and C-type lectin interactions 29. Sialic acid-specific microbial lectins 30. Bacterial toxins and their carbohydrate receptors at the host-pathogen interface 31. Toll-like receptor recognition of lipoglycans, glycolipids and lipopeptides 32. NOD receptor recognition of peptidoglycan 33. Microbial interaction with mucus and mucins 34. Mannose-fucose recognition by DC-SIGN 35. Host surfactant proteins in microbial recognition 36. T-cell recognition of microbial lipoglycans and glycolipids Part IV. Biological relevance of microbial glycosylated components; A. Environmental relevance 37. Extracellular polymeric substances in microbial biofilms 38. Physico-chemical properties of microbial glycopolymers 39. Microbial biofilm-related polysaccharides in biofouling and corrosion 40. Microbial glycosylated components in plant disease B. Medical relevance 41. Antigenic variation of microbial surface glycosylated molecules 42. Phase variation of bacterial surface glycosylated molecules in immune evasion 43. Molecular mimicry of host glycosylated structures by bacteria 44. Role of microbial glycosylation in host cell invasion Part V. Biotechnological and medical applications 45. Exopolysaccharides produced by lactic acid bacteria in food and probiotic applications 46. Industrial exploitation by genetic engineering of bacterial glycosylation systems 47. Glycomimetics as inhibitors in anti-infection therapy 48. Bacterial polysaccharide vaccines: glycogonjugates and peptide-mimetics 49. Immunomodulation by zwitterionic polysaccharides 50. Future potential of glycomics in microbiology and infectious diseases