Bacterial Glycomics: Current Research, Technology and Applications

Glycomics - the study of glycoconjugate assembly and expression in biological systems - is important in many areas of microbiology. Because glycans play such diverse roles in bacterial physiology, the field of bacterial glycomics is indispensable for the understanding of bacterial pathogenesis, metabolism, and cell communities. Progress in bacterial glycomics is advancing rapidly, due to improvements in analytical methodologies and the development of new and innovative approaches for glycan isolation, characterization, and synthesis. Research in bacterial glycomics could lead to the development of novel drugs, bioactive glycans, and glycoconjugate vaccines. Written by a team of acknowledged experts, this book provides an up-to-date overview of the current understanding of bacterial glycomes. It describes the main analytical methods in use and discusses recent and novel applications. The first section includes overviews of microbial glyconjugates, lipopolysaccharide, capsular polysaccharide, lipoarabinomannan biosynthesis, cell wall metabolism, and glycosylation of bacterial and archaeal proteins. The second section reviews the analytical approaches used in the characterization of the bacterial glycome. The final section describes applications of bacterial glycomics, including metabolic oligosaccharide labeling, the synthesis of bioactive glycans, and the potential for glycoconjugate vaccines. The book will be essential reading for microbiologists working in polysaccharide and carbohydrate research. It is also recommended for carbohydrate experts, microbiologists, immunologists, and researchers in many other fields of life sciences.