Abstract The introduction of chemical reporter groups into glycan structures through metabolic oligosaccharide engineering (MOE) followed by bio‐orthogonal ligation is an important tool to study glycosylation. We show the incorporation of synthetic galactose derivatives that bear terminal alkene groups in hepatic cells, with and without infection by Plasmodium berghei parasites, the causative agent of malaria. Additionally, we demonstrated the contribution of GLUT1 to the transport of these galactose derivatives, and observed a consistent increase in the uptake of these compounds going from naïve to P. berghei ‐infected cells. Finally, we used MOE to study the interplay between Plasmodium parasites and their mosquito hosts, to reveal a possible transfer of galactose building blocks from the latter to the former. This strategy has the potential to provide new insights into Plasmodium glycobiology as well as for the identification and characterization of key glycan structures for further vaccine development. Plasmodium glycobiology : The use of artificial galactose derivatives and labelling through iEDDA reaction in the liver stage of Plasmodium infection showed increased uptake in infected hepatic cells, through participation of GLUT1 transporters. Furthermore, unprotected derivatives are transferred from the mosquito host to the Plasmodium berghei parasite. This strategy has the potential to provide new insights into Plasmodium glycobiology.
【저자키워드】 malaria, carbohydrates, bioorthogonal chemistry, GLUT1 transporters, inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder,