Enzyme‐triggered assembly of glycan nanomaterials

Abstract

A comprehensive molecular understanding of carbohydrate aggregation is key to optimize carbohydrate utilization and to engineer bioinspired analogues with tailored shape1s and properties. However, the lack of well‐defined synthetic standards has substantially hampered advances in this field. Herein, we employ a phosphorylation‐assisted strategy to synthesize previously inaccessible long oligomers of cellulose, chitin, and xylan. These oligomers were subjected to enzyme‐triggered assembly (ETA) for the on‐demand formation of well‐defined carbohydrate nanomaterials, including elongated platelets, helical bundles, and hexagonal particles. Cryo‐electron microscopy and electron diffraction analysis provided molecular insights into the aggregation behavior of these oligosaccharides, establishing a direct connection between the resulting morphologies and the oligosaccharide primary sequence. Our findings demonstrate that ETA is a powerful approach to elucidate the intrinsic aggregation behavior of carbohydrates in nature. Moreover, the ability to access a diverse array of morphologies, expanded with a non‐natural sequence, underscores the potential of ETA, coupled with sequence design, as a robust tool for accessing programmable glycan architectures.