The Golgi Glycan Factory GGF
In nature, assembly of glycans is accomplished by glycosyltransferases in a specialized cell compartment, namely the Golgi apparatus.
Inspired by this natural way the project “The Golgi Glycan Factory“ was designed with the aim to develop assembly lines for complex glycan structures and their pre-cursors. Combination of modules including multiple enzyme cascade reactions enables the synthesis of nucleotide sugars and glycan structures. This “fabrication” follows the modern factory principle with the intent to utilize affordable starting material to produce high-value compounds.
Essential for effective compartmentalization and module combinations are the optimization of reaction parameters and the knowledge about potential tolerances or incompatibilities. As a novel technology, multiplexed capillary electrophoresis (MCE) accelerates the conventional workflow by simultaneous analysis of 96 enzyme reactions.
Funding of platform technologies for the next generation biotechnological processes is guaranteed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bioeconomy).
Enzyme Toolbox
The combination of Sucrose Synthase & Nucleotide Sugar Pathway Enzymes enables the synthesis of diverse donor substratee for glycosyltransferases based on affordable starting materials (e.g. sucrose).
Moreover, the modulation of Sucrose Synthase & Glycosyltransferases/ Glycosidases/ Glycosynthases leads to the generation of valuable glycoconjugates.