Handbook of Carbohydrate-Modifying Biocatalysts

Peter Grunwald studied chemistry at the University of Saarbrücken and the University of Hamburg, Germany, where he graduated in the field of high-frequency spectroscopy, and then became a staff member of the Institute of Physical Chemistry. After receiving his PhD in physical chemistry from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hamburg, he founded a biotechnology research group. He was appointed professor in 2001. His research interests focus on the preparation and properties of immobilized enzymes, kinetics of enzymes in organic solvents, and interactions between biocatalysts and heavy metal ions. Prof. Grunwald is also interested in chemical education, including curriculum development.

Basics in carbohydrate chemistry. Glycoconjugates: an overview. Oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates in recognition processes. Glycoside hydrolases. Disaccharide phosphorylases: mechanistic diversity and application in glycosciences. DHAP-dependent aldolases: from flask reaction to cell-based synthesis. Enzymatic and chemo-enzymatic synthesis of nucleotide sugars: novel enzymes, novel substrates, novel products, and novel routs. Iteratively acting glycosyltransferases. Bacterial glycosyltransferases involved in molecular mimicry of mammalian glycans. Sulfotransferases and sulfatases: sulfate modification of carbohydrates. Glycosylation in health and disease. Sialic acid derivatives, analogs and mimetics as biological probes and inhibitors of sialic acid recognizing proteins. Enzymes of the carbohydrate metabolism and catabolism for chemoenzymatic syntheses of complex oligosaccharides. From gene to product: tailor-made oligosaccharides and polysaccharides by enzyme and substrate engineering. Synthesis and modification of carbohydrates via metabolic pathway engineering in microorganisms. Metabolic pathway engineering for hyaluronic acid production. Microbial rhamnolipids. Chitin-converting enzymes. Linear and cyclic oligosaccharides. Fungal degradation of plant oligo- and polysaccharides. Bacterial strategies for plant cell wall degradation and their genomic information. Heterologous expression of cellulolytic enzymes. Engineered minicellulosomes for consolidated bioprocessing. Design of efficient multienzymatic reactions for cellulosic biomass processing.