Synthesis and Evaluation of a New Fluorescent Transglycosylase Substrate: Lipid II-Based Molecule Possessing a Dansyl-C20 Polyprenyl Moiety

The preparation of a novel fluorescent lipid II-based substrate for transglycosylases (TGases) is described. This substrate has characteristic structural features including a shorter lipid chain, a fluorophore tag at the end of the lipid chain rather than on the peptide chain, and no labeling with a radioactive atom. This fluorescent substrate is readily utilized in TGase activity assays to characterize TGases and also to evaluate the activities of TGase inhibitors.