Investigation of the specificity of an α-l-arabinofuranosidase using C-2 and C-5 modified α-l-arabinofuranosides Original Research Article

The synthesis of three novel glycosyl donors presenting the same scaffold as α-l-arabinofuranose but modified at the C-2 or C-5 positions has been achieved. Furthermore, chemoenzymatic syntheses using the α-l-arabinofuranosidase AbfD3 and these unnatural furanosides were investigated. The use of the novel p-nitrophenyl furanoside donors revealed that AbfD3 can perform transglycosylation with the C-5 deoxygenated donor but not with the C-2 modified one. These results emphasize the vital role for OH-2 in AbfD3 substrate recognition.