Abstract 2407 Isolation and characterization of glycosylated compounds for therapeutic application

Glycosylated compounds isolated from different biological sources possess unique structural and bioactive properties. Glycosylation increases stability, bioactivity, and solubility of compounds improving their pharmacological properties. The biosynthesis of glycosylated compounds occurs through glycosyltransferase enzymes that link a nucleotide-activated sugar donor to an acceptor molecule. Since these enzymes can have many different donors and acceptors, there is a large variation in glycosylated structures. Hence, we believe that specialized genome mining approaches targeting glycosyltransferase sequences will identify uncharacterized biosynthetic gene clusters that produce a variety of novel glycosylated compounds. Using this approach, we have identified several uncharacterized gene clusters we think produce bioactive glycosylated compounds. We aim to isolate and characterize these compounds for the development of therapeutic agents. The methodologies followed will be extraction of glycosylated compounds via conventional liquid-liquid extraction from spent media and accelerated solvent extraction from biological biomass. Extracted bioactive compounds will then undergo purification through a combination of different chromatographic techniques guided by metabolomics and characterized using various spectrometric and spectroscopic techniques. Our unique approach will identify novel bioactive glycosylated compounds for further therapeutic development. The project is funded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award number R35GM151137.