4-Deoxy-4-fluoro-GalNAz (4FGalNAz) Is a Metabolic Chemical Reporter of O-GlcNAc Modifications, Highlighting the Notable Substrate Flexibility of O-GlcNAc Transferase.

Bio-orthogonal chemistries have revolutionized many fields. For example, metabolic chemical reporters (MCRs) of glycosylation are analogues of monosaccharides that contain a bio-orthogonal functionality, such as azides or alkynes. MCRs are metabolically incorporated into glycoproteins by living systems, and bio-orthogonal reactions can be subsequently employed to install visualization and enrichment tags.

Anomeric Fatty Acid Functionalization Prevents Nonenzymatic -Glycosylation by Monosaccharide Metabolic Chemical Reporters.

Metabolic chemical reports have fundamentally changed the way researchers study glycosylation. However, when administered as per--acetylated sugars, reporter molecules can participate in nonspecific chemical labeling of cysteine residues termed -glycosylation. Without detailed proteomic analyses, these labeling events can be indistinguishable from bona fide enzymatic labeling convoluting experimental results.