Biochemical Applications of Microbial Rare Glycan Biosynthesis, Recognition, and Sequencing

While humans utilize approximately ten building blocks, hundreds of “rare” sugars exist, which are absent in mammals but present in microbes, plants, and other natural sources. In addition to the common sugars found across organisms, more than 700 different rare monosaccharides exist, many of which are prokaryote-specific and utilized across bacteria to decorate natural products and various other glycoconjugates. As the outer glycocalyx layer of bacterial cells is composed of glycolipids, glycoproteins, and polysaccharides, rare sugars are enriched on the cell surface and are major components of structures known to mediate interactions with other cells and the environment. Despite their importance in biology, there remain many open questions in the field of biochemistry regarding the biosynthesis and functions of rare sugars. This perspective highlights ongoing biochemical work on prokaryotic rare sugars, including approaches to study the incorporation of rare sugars into cellular glycans, to develop chemical and enzymatic routes for generating rare sugar probes and glycans, and to analyze rare sugar–protein interactions. Opportunities to improve the sequencing efforts of microbial glycans through experimental and computational approaches are also discussed, along with potential therapeutic applications of rare sugar-containing molecules. In covering these topics, we emphasize tools that have not yet been utilized to study rare sugars but may be used for future approaches that will expand our knowledge of their distinct roles in microbes and the interplay between pathogens and their hosts.