Recent Advances in Protein-Specific Glycan Imaging and Editing.

Glycosylation in live cell and animal modulate a constellation of biological functions. The advent of Chemical Biology has revolutionized the analysis and tailoring of glycans, by introducing myriads of glycan engineering methods. However, the ideal scenario to achieve glycan monitoring and structural manipulation at any hierarchical levels is unmet yet. Herein we review recent advances in the methodological innovation and the versatile applications of the protein-specific glycan visualization and editing in deciphering the biological functions of glycans. An outlook for future directions toward specific sugar-chain editing is also included.

Enzymatic Protein Immobilization on Amino-Functionalized Nanoparticles.

The immobilization of proteins on nanoparticles has received much attention in recent years. Among different approaches, enzymatic protein immobilization shows unique advantages because of its site-specific connection. OaAEP1 is a recently engineered peptide ligase which can specifically recognize an N-terminal GL residue (NH2-Gly-Leu) and a C-terminal NGL amino acid residue (Asn-Gly-Leu-COOH) and ligates them efficiently. Herein, we report OaAEP1-mediated protein immobilization on synthetic magnetic nanoparticles. Our work showed that OaAEP1 could mediate C-terminal site-specific protein immobilization on the amino-functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Our work demonstrates a new method for site-specific protein immobilization on nanoparticles.