@article {1155,
	title = {"Just a spoonful of sugar...": import of sialic acid across bacterial cell membranes.},
	journal = {Biophys Rev},
	volume = {10},
	year = {2018},
	month = {2018 Apr},
	pages = {219-227},
	abstract = {<p>Eukaryotic cell surfaces are decorated with a complex array of glycoconjugates that are usually capped with sialic acids, a large family of over 50 structurally distinct nine-carbon amino sugars, the most common member of which is N-acetylneuraminic acid. Once made available through the action of neuraminidases, bacterial pathogens and commensals utilise host-derived sialic acid by degrading it for energy or repurposing the sialic acid onto their own cell surface to camouflage the bacterium from the immune system. A functional sialic acid transporter has been shown to be essential for the uptake of sialic acid in a range of human bacterial pathogens and important for host colonisation and persistence. Here, we review the state-of-play in the field with respect to the molecular mechanisms by which these bio-nanomachines transport sialic acids across bacterial cell membranes.</p>
},
	issn = {1867-2450},
	doi = {10.1007/s12551-017-0343-x},
	author = {North, Rachel A and Horne, Christopher R and Davies, James S and Remus, Daniela M and Muscroft-Taylor, Andrew C and Goyal, Parveen and Wahlgren, Weixiao Yuan and Ramaswamy, S and Friemann, Rosmarie and Dobson, Renwick C J}
}
