ABSTRACT
Carbohydrates have attracted significant attention in recent years as they play an important role in both intracellular and extracellular molecular recognition and intermolecular signal transduction. Carbohydrates are also closely involved in the interactions between viruses of infectious diseases and host cells. If carbohydrates involved in viral infections can be artificially synthesized, a biological recognition element material can be developed that will be able to quickly and specifically detect pathogenic viruses such as influenza viruses. However, artificial synthesis of carbohydrates is very difficult and costly because they have complex structures and are rich in diversity unlike chain polymers such as nucleic acids and proteins. Recently, we have succeeded in easily preparing large quantities of glycans that have complex structures and are involved in viral infections by a using a chemo-enzymatically synthesis method which combines the commonly used organic chemistry method for glycan synthesis and an enzyme synthesis method that uses recombinant glycosyltransferases expressed in silkworms. This chapter discusses the production of various recombinant glycosyltransferases using silkworms and the development of functional glycan material using these glycosyltransferases.
