Glycobiology Advance Access originally published online on August 23, 2007
Glycobiology 2007 17(11):1150-1155; doi:10.1093/glycob/cwm089
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Celebrating the golden anniversary of the discovery of bacillosamine, the diamino sugar of a Bacillus*,,
2 Department of Biological Chemistry, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Tel: +972-8-934-3605; Fax: +972-8-9468256; e-mail: nathan.sharon{at}weizmann.ac.il
Received on August 1, 2007; revised on August 13, 2007; accepted on August 13, 2007
Abstract
Bacillosamine (2,4-diamino-2,4,6-trideoxy-D-glucose, Bac), a rare amino sugar, was discovered 50 years ago as a result of the follow-up of a chance observation made during studies of polypeptide synthesis by a Bacillus subtilis strain later renamed Bacillus licheniformis. In the following decades this amino sugar was almost completely ignored, although it was found in a number of bacterial polysaccharides and other metabolites. Recently, there has been a burst of interest in Bac when it was found to be a link glycan in eubacterial glycoproteins. In this retrospective, I review the chance discovery of Bac, its structural determination and its biosynthesis.
Key words: Bacillus licheniformis / Campylobacter jejuni / fucosamine / glycoproteins / polysaccharide
Footnotes
* Dedicated to Roger W Jeanloz, mentor and friend, and glycobiology pioneer, in whose laboratory and under whose guidance I discovered bacillosamine, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, November 3, 2007.
The editor is sad to convey that the dedicatee of this historical review, Dr. Roger Jeanloz, died September 2007, prior to its final publication. This marks the passing of a valued colleague who made significant contributions to the emergence of the discipline of Glycobiology.