title: Enzymatic approaches to rare sugar production.
abstract: Rare sugars have recently attracted much attention because of their potential applications in the food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. A systematic strategy for enzymatic production of rare sugars, named Izumoring, was developed >10years ago. The strategy consists of aldose-ketose isomerization, ketose C-3 epimerization, and monosaccharide oxidation-reduction. Recent development of the Izumoring strategy is reviewed herein, especially the genetic approaches to the improvement of rare sugar-producing enzymes and the applications of target-oriented bioconversion. In addition, novel non-Izumoring enzymatic approaches are also summarized, including enzymatic condensation, phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cascade reaction, aldose epimerization, ulosonic acid decarboxylation, and biosynthesis of rare disaccharides.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China.
authors.forename: Wenli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China; Synergetic Innovation Center of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China; Synergetic Innovation Center of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China. Electronic address: wmmu@jiangnan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wanmeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mu
mesh_terms: D002237:Carbohydrate Dehydrogenases; D002238:Carbohydrate Epimerases; D010766:Phosphorylation; D000073893:Sugars / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000073893:Sugars; D002237:Carbohydrate Dehydrogenases; D002238:Carbohydrate Epimerases
keywords: Dehydrogenization; Epimerization; Isomerization; Izumoring; Rare sugar