ENZYMES FOR CARBOHYDRATE AND PEPTIDE SYNTHESES

New practical procedures have been developed for the enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of carbohydrates and peptides. Aldolases have been shown to be effective catalysts for the synthesis of uncommon sugars, particularly azasugars. Enzymatic methods for the large-scale synthesis of oligosaccharides have been developed with the use of glycosyltransferases coupled with the regeneration of sugar nucleotides. Engineered subtilisin variants that are stable and active in anhydrous dimethylformamide and in aqueous solution have been developed for peptide segment coupling.