Gal-Specific Neolectins: Towards Promising Diagnostic Tools.

In the absence of naturally available galactofuranose-specific lectin, we report herein the bioengineering of GalNeoLect, from the first cloned wild-type galactofuranosidase ( sp. strain JHA19), which recognises and binds a single monosaccharide that is only related to nonmammalian species, usually pathogenic microorganisms. We kinetically characterised the GalNeoLect to confirm attenuation of hydrolytic activity and used competitive inhibition assay, with close structural analogues of Gal, to show that it conserved interaction with its original substrate.

Biocatalytic Synthesis of Coumarin -Glycosides: Towards Non-Cytotoxic Probes for Biomedical Imaging and Sensing.

This study unveils an innovative method for synthesizing coumarin -glycosides, employing original biocatalysts able to graft diverse carbohydrate structures onto 7-mercapto-4-methyl-coumarin in one-pot reactions. The fluorescence properties of the generated thio-derivatives were assessed, providing valuable insights into their potential applications in biological imaging or sensing. In addition, the synthesized compounds exhibited no cytotoxicity across various human cell lines.

"Mix and match" auto-assembly of glycosyltransferase domains delivers biocatalysts with improved substrate promiscuity.

Glycosyltransferases (GT) catalyze the glycosylation of bioactive natural products, including peptides and proteins, flavonoids, and sterols, and have been extensively used as biocatalysts to generate glycosides. However, the often narrow substrate specificity of wild-type GTs requires engineering strategies to expand it. The GT-B structural family is constituted by GTs that share a highly conserved tertiary structure in which the sugar donor and acceptor substrates bind in dedicated domains.

The Identification of New c-FLIP Inhibitors for Restoring Apoptosis in TRAIL-Resistant Cancer Cells.

The catalytically inactive caspase-8-homologous protein, c-FLIP, is a potent antiapoptotic protein highly expressed in various types of cancers. c-FLIP competes with caspase-8 for binding to the adaptor protein FADD (Fas-Associated Death Domain) following death receptors' (DRs) activation via the ligands of the TNF-R family. As a consequence, the extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway involving DRs is inhibited.

Lectin Analysis of SARS-CoV-2-Positive Nasopharyngeal Samples Using GLYcoPROFILE Technology Platform.

Nasopharyngeal samples are currently accepted as the standard diagnostic samples for nucleic acid amplification testing and antigenic testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In addition to the diagnostic capacity of SARS-CoV-2-positive crude nasopharyngeal samples, their qualitative potential for direct glycan-specific analysis, in order to uncover unique glycol profiles, was assessed. In this study we provide glycan characterization of SARS-CoV-2-positive and -negative nasopharyngeal samples directly from lectin interactions.