Chemical glycobiology in bacterial surface modification

Abstract

Recently, imaging of glycans on the cell surface has attracted much attention. There has been a good deal of research on glycan labeling for mammalian cells in vitro and also for some vertebrates (mice and zebrafish) in vivo, but little on bacterial cells. In this mini review, recent examples of chemical glycobiology, including various modification methods of bacterial surface carbohydrates which can be divided into genetic modification and nongenetic modification (metabolic labeling), are described. © 2013 FCCA (Forum: Carbohydrates Coming of Age).