Towards the Enzymatic Synthesis of Carbohydrates

摘要

Three major repeating biomacromolecules, nucleic acid, protein,and carbohydrate carry out most of the information transfer in livingsystems. Nucleic acid carries genetic information in the form ofDNA and RNA; PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), a revolutionarytechnique developed in 1983 by K. Mullis, has become an indispensabletool in biological and biomedical researches for nucleic acid synthesis.On the other hand, solid-phase peptide synthesis, pioneered by R.B. Merrifield, allows preparation of desired peptides and proteins invitro in a synthetic manner. However, due to the non-template basedbiosynthetic pathway of carbohydrates, access structurally definedhomogeneous carbohydrate oligomers remains challenging whenautomated synthesis of oligonucleotides and oligopeptides is common.