Abstract
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), also known as mucopolysaccharides, are linear anionic compounds composed of repeating disaccharide units and classified into four groups: heparin and heparan sulfates, chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate, keratan sulfate, and hyaluronan/hyaluronic acid. These large complex carbohydrate molecules are present in every mammalian tissue where they are known to bind and regulate a broad range of proteins involved in a myriad of physiological and pathological processes. GAGs are found in (in)vertebrate animals, implying a conserved function in the animal kingdom. Though, today there is an increasing number of examples of GAGs of microbial origin. There are concerns such as environmental impact, presence of undesirable animal products, and contamination risks that have necessitated alternate sources for industrial GAG production. The GAGs produced by microorganisms (microbial GAGs) are renewable resources and meet current market demands. Besides, these microbial GAGs are less complex and lack some modifications usually observed in animal GAGs. In fact, certain bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Pasteurella multocida, and Streptococcus have the necessary enzyme machinery to produce simple, nonsulfated GAGs, such as hyaluronan, heparosan, and chondroitin, among many more. Due to the recent expansion of GAG demand, a summary of the molecular structures, biosynthesis, physiologic functions, and clinical applications of the four primary groups of GAGs, and also a brief description of the microbial production of GAGs, is of particular interest.
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Acknowledgments
H. Radhouani and C. Gonçalves were supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from Portugal, with references CEECIND/00111/2017 and SFRH/BPD/94277/2013, respectively. J. M. Oliveira thanks the FCT for the fund provided under the Investigador FCT 2015 (IF/01285/2015) program. S. Correia and this work were funded by the R&D Project KOAT – Kefiran exopolysaccharide: Promising biopolymer for use in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, with reference PTDC/BTMMAT/29760/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029760), financed by FCT and co-financed by FEDER and POCI.
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Radhouani, H., Correia, S., Gonçalves, C., Reis, R.L., Oliveira, J.M. (2022). Glycosaminoglycans. In: Oliveira, J.M., Radhouani, H., Reis, R.L. (eds) Polysaccharides of Microbial Origin. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42215-8_12
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