Carbohydrates articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    An ensemble of cryo-electron microscopy structures of the KpsMT ABC transporter in complex with the KpsE co-polymerase and a glycolipid substrate reveal how capsular polysaccharides are recognized and translocated across bacterial cell membranes.

    • Jeremi Kuklewicz
    •  & Jochen Zimmer

  • Article |

    A cryo-electron microscopy analysis reveals how HAS selects its substrates, hydrolyses the first substrate to prime the synthesis reaction, opens a hyaluronan-conducting transmembrane channel, ensures alternating substrate polymerization and coordinates hyaluronan inside its transmembrane pore.

    • Finn P. Maloney
    • , Jeremi Kuklewicz
    •  & Jochen Zimmer

  • Article |

    Analyses reveal a previously undescribed transmembrane protein fold in the endoplasmic reticulum-based glucosyltransferase ALG6 and provide a structural basis for understanding the glucose transfer mechanism.

    • Joël S. Bloch
    • , Giorgio Pesciullesi
    •  & Kaspar P. Locher

  • Article |

    Crystal structure of the Plasmodium falciparum hexose transporter PfHT1 reveals the molecular basis of its ability to transport multiple types of sugar as efficiently as the dedicated mammalian glucose and fructose transporters.

    • Abdul Aziz Qureshi
    • , Albert Suades
    •  & David Drew

  • Books & Arts |

    David Katz finds much to chew on in a polemic on the risk of consuming too much high-fructose corn syrup.

    • David Katz

  • Article |

    An X-ray crystal structure of the bacterial cellulose synthase captures the process of cellulose synthesis and membrane translocation; the structure indicates how the synthesis of cellulose and the translocation of the nascent polysaccharide chain across the cell membrane are coupled.

    • Jacob L. W. Morgan
    • , Joanna Strumillo
    •  & Jochen Zimmer

  • News & Views |

    The structure of a bacterial protein belonging to the 'sugar porter' family guides the building of long-sought molecular models of proteins that transport glucose across cell membranes in humans. See Article p.361

    • Peter J. F. Henderson
    •  & Stephen A. Baldwin

  • Letter |

    The anomeric effect is a chemical phenomenon that refers to an observed stabilization of six-membered carbohydrate rings when they contain an electronegative substituent at the C1 position of the ring. This stereoelectronic effect influences the three-dimensional shapes of many biological molecules, but the underlying physical origin is unclear. Here it is shown that complexes formed between a truncated peptide motif and an isolated sugar in the gas phase are nearly identical structurally; however, the strength of the polarization of their interactions with the peptide differs greatly. It will be important to re-evaluate the influence, and biological effects, of substituents at position C2 of the six-membered carbohydrate rings.

    • Emilio J. Cocinero
    • , Pierre Carcabal
    •  & Benjamin G. Davis

  • News |

    Automated synthesizers can make complex carbohydrates on demand.

    • Richard Van Noorden

  • Letter |

    One of the roles of the human gut microbiota is to break down nutrients using bacterial enzymes that are lacking from the human genome. It is now shown that the gut microbiota of Japanese, but not American, individuals contains porphyranases, enzymes that digest sulphated polysaccharides which are present in the marine environment only. These findings indicate that diet can select for gene content of the human microbiota.

    • Jan-Hendrik Hehemann
    • , Gaëlle Correc
    •  & Gurvan Michel

  • News & Views |

    If evolution has had trouble making effective carbohydrate receptors, what hope do humans have of creating synthetic versions? A method for preparing libraries of such receptors boosts the chances of success.

    • Anthony P. Davis

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