Stereochemistry of a new bacterial carbohydrate modification

摘要

Until recently, glycosylation was considered a post-translational modification exclusive to proteins of higher eukaryotic organisms. However, a number of studies have now established that bacterial proteins can also possess covalent carbohydrate modifications on amino acid side chains. In 2015, a new modification - L-rhamnosylation of Arg residues - was discovered on bacterial translation elongation factor P (EF-P), a protein required for preventing ribosome stalling when translating polyproline motifs (Jung K. et al. Nat Chem. Biol. 2015, 11, 266-70).