Publications by authors named "Hou-Cheng Zhang"

A beta1,3-galactosyltransferase (WbgO) was identified in Escherichia coli O55:H7. Its function was confirmed by radioactive activity assay and structure analysis of the disaccharide synthesized with the recombinant enzyme. WbgO requires a divalent metal ion, either Mn(2+) or Mg(2+), for its activity and is active between pH 6.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidases (ENGases) are dual specificity enzymes with an ability to catalyze hydrolysis and transglycosylation reactions. Recently, these enzymes have become the focus of intense research because of their potential for synthesis of glycopeptides. We have determined the 3D structures of an ENGase from Arthrobacter protophormiae (Endo-A) in 3 forms, one in native form, one in complex with Man(3)GlcNAc-thiazoline and another in complex with GlcNAc-Asn.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, protein glycosylation passed two different N-linked modification pathways after the export of predominantly Man8 GlcNAc2-containing glycoproteins from ER to the Golgi. The core oligosaccharide undergoes maturation in the Golgi resulting in a Man8-13 GlcNAc2 structure. Alternatively, core structures may be hypermannosylated with up to 200 mannose residues composing of a backbone of alpha1,6-mannosyl residues with branched alpha1, 2- and alpha1,3-mannosyl side chains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A new compound 2, possessing a tetra-N-acetyl-chitotetraosyl moiety as a constituent, was synthesized by bacterial fermentation, which used allosamizoline 1 as the initial acceptor. A 2-binding chitinase assay, indicated that the chitinase was inactivated by 2 with IC50 = 0.03 microg/mL.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The work presented herein is a new noncovalent glycoarray assembly method for microplates created by simply mixing together a carbohydrate and a tetradecylamine. alpha-D-Mannopyranoside, alpha-D-glucopyranoside, and alpha-D-galactopyranoside were utilized in model studies and product formations were detected by lectin binding. The method can be extended to study the steric hindrance effect of carbohydrate-protein interactions, namely the structure-function relations of carbohydrates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A new compound 7, possessing a tetra-N-acetyl-chitotetraosyl moiety as a constituent, was synthesized by bacterial fermentation which used allosamizoline 6 as the initial acceptor.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The work presented herein is a new noncovalent glycoarray assembly method for microplates created by simply mixing together a carbohydrate and a tetradecylamine. Alpha-mannose was utilized in the model study and product formation was detected by lectin binding. The method can be further extended to array complex carbohydrates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cell density cultivation of recombinant Escherichia coli strains harboring the nodC gene (encoding chitooligosaccharide synthase) from Azorhizobium caulinodans has been previously described as a practical method for the preparation of gram-scale quantities of penta-N-acetyl-chitopentaose. We have now extended this method to the production of allylated derivative of penta-N-acetyl-chitopentaose by using allyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-d-glucopyranoside (2) as the initial acceptor for the synthesis of target pentaoside in vivo.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

N-acetyl glucosamine 1 is selectively converted into 2 without protection of the other hydroxyl groups by allylation of the anomeric alkoxide in N,N-dimethylformamide containing lithium bromide. We use cell density cultures to produce the allylated derivative of penta-N-acetyl-chitopentaose by using 2 as the initial acceptor for the synthesis of 3 in vivo. Upon periodate oxidation, 3 is transferred to 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis (FACE) is a straightforward, sensitive method for determining the presence and relative abundance of individual (oligo)saccharides in a(n) (oligo)saccharide mixture. The single-terminal aldehydes of oligoglucoside residues released by acid hydrolysis of beta-1,3-D-glucan from yeast were tagged with the charged fluorophore ANTS (8-aminonaphthalene-1,3,6-trisulphonate), and separated with high resolution on the basis of size by PAGE. ANTS fluorescence labelling was not biased by oligoglucoside length; therefore band fluorescence intensity was directly related to the relative abundance of individual oligoglucoside moieties in a heterogeneous sample.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF