| abstract |
Chimeric carbohydrates produced by recombinant microorganism carrying exogenous glycosyl transferases act with or without exogenous enzymes requir ed for synthesis or nucleotide synthesis precursors. These recombinant microorganism can be used as a means for competitively inhibiting the bindin g of toxins or adhesins to receptors of mucosal surfaces, especially gastrointestinal surface. In particular chimeric sugar moieties have been ma de for lipopolysaccharides, in recombinant microorganism that present multiple copies of the oligosaccharides. The oligosaccharide moieties so presented ac t as receptor mimic for toxins and adhesins. A number have been synthesised an d have been shown to confer protection against attack by pathogenic organisms or their products in vitro and an in vivo. |