Development of Fluorogenic Probes to Detect Glycan-Degrading Enzymes in Bacteria

-acetyl-d-fucosamine and 2,4-diacetamido-2,4,6-trideoxy-d-galactose were developed, and their activation was directly compared to a d-glucose-based fluorogenic probe in bacterial and mammalian cells. The species-selective utilization of these glycosidase probes, coupled to the difference in relative magnitude of glycosidase activity observed, provides important insights into these relatively unexplored glycan-processing enzymes. The use of these fluorogenic probes expands the toolkit for detecting glycan-degrading enzymes and offers an approach to enhancing a broader understanding of bacterial glycan metabolism and its diversity across different species.