« Foundations of Polysaccharide Science » book - Centre de recherches sur les macromolécules végétales

Serge Pérez, CNRS Emeritus Research Director at Cermav, has just published an e-book titled Foundations of Polysaccharide Science with Taylor & Francis (CRC Press). The book outlines the origins and natural sources of polysaccharides in plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and algae. It describes the biosynthetic pathways and functional modifications of these molecules for a variety […]

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La Gazette du LABORATOIRE - La gazette du mois

© 2026 la gazette du laboratoire. All rights reserved.

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Making sure you're not a bot!

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Making sure you're not a bot!

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Making sure you're not a bot!

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Making sure you're not a bot!

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Making sure you're not a bot!

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Making sure you're not a bot!

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Glyco@Club Kick-Off Day - Thursday 26 March 2026 | GlycoAlps - Université Grenoble Alpes

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Antiadhesive glycoconjugate metal complexes targeting pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans

Glycoconjugate metal complexes target bacterial and fungal proteins for antiadhesive effects.

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Antiadhesive glycoconjugate metal complexes targeting pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans

Glycoconjugate metal complexes target bacterial and fungal proteins for antiadhesive effects.

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Lectins in the sweet strategy of lung pathogens: from structural glycobiology to design of glycomimetic pathoblockers

Glycan epitopes exposed on the host cell surface serve as receptors for a wide range of proteins expressed by microorganisms. Among these, lectins that are produced by viruses, bacteria, and fungi in either soluble or surface-attached forms, play key roles in infection processes. The fine specificity that many of these glycan-binding proteins display toward human glycan epitopes is the result of long-term co-evolution. Structural insights into lectin architecture, their binding sites, and the atomic details of their interactions with glycans are crucial for designing antimicrobial agents capable of competing with infectious processes and potentially supplementing antibiotics in the current fight against antimicrobial resistance. This review highlights how structural lectinology can serve as a starting point for fruitful collaborations with synthetic carbohydrate chemists in the design, synthesis, and characterization of glycomimetics acting as pathoblockers. Various strategies have been developed to target lectins, exemplified here by soluble lectins from the lung pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. The affinity for monosaccharide ligands has been enhanced through heterocyclic functionalization using classical medicinal chemistry approaches, with the best results obtained by mimicking natural glycan receptors. Alternatively, the oligomeric nature of lectins allows the design of divalent or multivalent ligands, which exhibit much stronger affinity due to the cluster effect. Covalent inhibitors and non-carbohydrate glycomimetics also represent promising leads for future strategies to combat antimicrobial resistance.

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The Parkinson's disease drug Tolcapone and analogues are potent glycomimetic lectin inhibitor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LecA

The notorious pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa relies on the lectin LecA for host cell adhesion, invasion, and biofilm formation. Motivated by the pressing need for new antiinfective therapies caused by antimicrobial resistance, inhibitors of LecA are under investigation. Complementary to the use of carbohydrate-based inhibitors, we have previously identified catechols as weak but specific ligands of LecA, constituting a novel class of noncarbohydrate glycomimetics. Here, we present the catechol Tolcapone and derivatives as a new class of potent glycomimetics. By growing the initial millimolar fragment hits, we identified Tolcapone as a promising compound. To gain insight into the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of catechols as LecA binders more than 3,200 compounds of the Roche in-house library were experimentally screened in a competitive binding assay at three concentrations. Of these, 48 compounds were chosen for further investigation, resulting in compounds equipotent to aryl galactosides, the current epithome of LecA inhibition. X-ray crystallography and saturation transfer difference NMR spectroscopy revealed conserved interactions of the catechol moiety in the glycan binding site of LecA and rationalized the observed SAR. Our findings demonstrate that it is possible to develop potent non-carbohydrate glycomimetic lectin inhibitors, paving the way for a new avenue of research that could yield innovative antiinfective drugs.

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Glycosynthase-Based Synthesis of Peptidoglycan Oligosaccharides to Address Bacterial Cell-Wall Elongation Processes

Most antibiotics used in human medicine inhibit the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan (PG), a vital component of the bacterial cell wall. However, the rapid rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a major global health threat. Gaining deeper insight into PG metabolism is a crucial step in combating AMR, an objective achievable only through the use of welldefined molecular probes. In this study, we developed a chemo-enzymatic method to synthesize PG oligosaccharides using a lysozyme-derived glycosynthase. To prevent unwanted polymerization and enable precise control over product size, a glycosyl fluoride donor bearing a terminal galactosyl unit was designed. The trisaccharide Gal-beta-(1→4)-GlcNAc-beta-(1→4)-1,6-anhydro-MurNAc was biosynthesized in metabolically engineered Escherichia coli cells and subsequently fluorinated at the reducing end via chemical modification. Successive glycosylation and degalactosylation steps using this donor, starting from two disaccharide acceptors, led to the synthesis of PG tetra-, hexa-, and octasaccharides, with 60-70% yield at each cycle. These compounds were used to probe the specificity of E. coli DedD, a SPOR-domain-containing protein involved in bacterial cell division. NMR spectroscopy and NMR-restraint-driven molecular dynamics provide new insights into the role of this protein relative to other E. coli SPOR domain-containing proteins.

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Right-Handed Chiral Photonic Cellulose Nanocrystal Films

Chirality transfer across length scales is a fascinating phenomenon that has intrigued researchers across disciplines. This is especially the case with cellulose, where, despite being one of the most exploited materials in our society, such as paper and cotton, it remains elusive when it comes to the transfer of the intrinsic chirality at the molecular scale to larger hierarchical structures. Here we show that in the case of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), allomorphic transformation from cellulose I to cellulose II can lead to chirality inversions in chiral nematic suspensions. This phenomenon allows the fabrication of right-handed chiral photonic films using CNCs extracted from standard plant biomass, which is first mercerized and then subjected to sulfuric acid hydrolysis followed by desulfation. Similar to standard cellulose I-based CNC self-assembly, the twist chirality and aspect ratio of the left-handed CNCs in cellulose II can be significantly modified through crystallite aggregation engineering. In contrast to molecular liquid crystals, chirality inversion has never been presented in colloidal liquid crystals, and our findings present a step towards the development of so far inaccessible cellulose materials beyond the native crystallinity

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Cyclodextrin-Supported Passerini Three-Component Reaction as a Synthetic Platform for Homogeneous Modification of Carboxymethylcellulose in Aqueous Media

The prime objective of this study was to construct a synthetic platform for an aqueous reaction system that enabled chemical modification of environmentally-friendly resources by using multicomponent reactions (MCRs). The target system was based on the Passerini three-component (P-3CR) reaction among carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), formaldehyde (F-CHO), and 1-adamantyl isocyanide (Adm-NC), which has been a heterogeneous reaction due to the insolubility of Adm-NC in water. Such a reaction to produce gel-like products is difficult to control. In this study, we have added cyclodextrins (CDs) to the system in order to bypass uncontrolled interactions between the Adm-NC and water molecules by utilizing a host-guest complexation between the CDs and adamantane (Adm) derivatives. The CD-supported P-3CR homogeneously proceeded in water. The resulting products have been characterized to clarify the impact of the CDs and stoichiometric ratios of the three starting materials in the feeds. This paper includes another minor topic that CDs have been subsequently released by dialysis by using an automatic continuous ultrafiltration apparatus, making the inherent Adm units exposed in aqueous media. The CD-released P-3CR products showed selforganization properties due to hydrophobic associations between the exposed Adm units.

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Microalgae, sunlight, and starch: low cell concentration is optimal for outdoor production under nutrient stress

Submitted on : Monday, January 5, 2026-8:32:10 PM

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Bluesky

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Structurally defined synthetic heparin oligosaccharides reveal unique signatures for nanopore structural analysis of GAGs

Efforts to fully understand the structure-to-function relationships of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) have been hampered by the complexity and polydispersi…

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Phosphorylated lignin–cellulose nanofibrils for multifunctional PVA composites with UV-absorption and flame-retardancy

Composite manufacturing often requires multiple additives to achieve desired properties in terms of strength, safety, and durability. Here, we produce multifunctional lignin-cellulose nanofibrils (PLCNFs) via a simple phosphorylation of giant reed using H3PO4/urea. The synergistic effects of cellulose, lignin, and phosphate in PLCNFs offer promising prospects for the manufacturing of multifunctional composites. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/PLCNF nanocomposites were produced by solvent casting and comprehensively characterized using scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, moisture uptake, and microscale combustion calorimetry. The reinforcing and flame-retardant potentials of PLCNF in the PVA matrix were revealed, along with additional UV-shielding and hydrophobicity imparted by lignin. These features highlight the potential applications of these nanocomposites as a safe substitute for flammable or hazardous materials. These multifunctional films are promising for sustainable food packaging and protective coating applications requiring UV-blocking and flame-retardant properties. In summary, this study demonstrates that underused lignocellulosic resources, when combined with benign phosphorylation chemistry, can serve as robust, reliable, and eco-friendly flame-retardant additives for enhanced nanocomposites.

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Phosphorylated lignin–cellulose nanofibrils for multifunctional PVA composites with UV-absorption and flame-retardancy

Composite manufacturing often requires multiple additives to achieve desired properties in terms of strength, safety, and durability. Here, we produce…

sciencedirect.com

Self-assembly of dextran-solanesol block copolymers into spherical micelles for photostabilization of quercetin

Compared with cyclodextrins (CD), carbohydrate-based block copolymers offer enhanced tunability regarding guest encapsulation properties by forming mi…

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Microphase separation in maltooligosaccharide-based block co-oligomers with dominant sugar volume fractions: Toward a comprehensive understanding of the phase behavior

Block co-oligomers (BCOs) consisting of oligosaccharides and hydrophobic terpenoid blocks exhibit microphase-separated structures of various morpholog…

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