Substrate and Donor Specificity of Glycosyl Transferases

It has been shown that all selectins recognize the carbohydrate epitopes sialyl Lewisx and sialyl Lewisa. For the establishment of the structure-activity relationship, the efficient synthesis of these tetrasaccharides and derivatives is therefore of vital interest. The glycosyl transferase-mediated approach is summarized with emphasis on the use of modified acceptors and modified sugar-nucleotide donors. A survey of the involved enzymes: β(1-3) and β(1-4)galactosyl transferases, α(2-3)sialyl transferase, FucT III and FucT VI reveals that the enzymatic synthesis is highly efficient for the rapid preparation of sialyl Lewisx- and sialyl Lewisa-derivative