The present application provides glycosylation engineered higher eukaryotic cells which produce homogeneous forms of sialylated glycans present on a recombinant glycoprotein. In particular, the glycosylation engineered higher eukaryotic cells produce homogeneous forms of small N-glycan structures which carry terminal sialic acid residues. In addition, the invention provides glycan-conjugates based on specific coupling with sialic acid residues present on the recombinant glycoproteins.

The present invention discloses a process for producing N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-glucosamine salts by microbial fermentation. The invention includes a method to produce N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and/or D-glucosamine salts with higher efficiency and higher yield by increasing the effect of N-acetyl-D-aminomannose-6-phosphate epimerase in microorganisms.

This Invention discloses a method for production of N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine and/or D-Glucosamine Salt by microbial fermentation. The method is intended to manufacture N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine and/or D-Glucosamine Salt in higher efficiency and higher yield, by expression of vitreoscilla hemoglobin in microorganism.

Disclosed herein are methods of expressing UDP-GlcNAc 2-Epimerase/ManNAc Kinase enzyme (GNE) peptide in a cell of a subject comprising: delivering into the cell of the subject an isolated nucleic acid expression construct that comprises a promoter operatively linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a GNE peptide or a therapeutically active fragment thereof, wherein the GNE peptide has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:3, wherein upon the delivering into the cell of the subject, the nucleic acid expression construct initiates expression of the GNE peptide or a therapeutically active fragment thereof. Also disclosed are methods of producing a GNE peptide in a cell comprising infecting the cell with an isolated nucleic acid construct that comprises a promoter operatively linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a GNE peptide or a therapeutically active fragment thereof, wherein the GNE peptide has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:3.

Disclosed herein are methods of treating HIBM in a subject comprising identifying subject in need thereof; and administering to the subject a compound, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, ester, amide, glycol, peptidyl, or prodrug thereof, wherein the compound is a compound that is biosynthesized in a wild type individual along a biochemical pathway between glucose and sialic acid, inclusive. Also disclosed herein are vectors comprising a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a polypeptide having at least 80% sequence identity to the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2, recombinant cells comprising these vectors, and recombinant animals comprising the cells. In addition, methods of identifying a compound having therapeutic effect for HIBM are disclosed.

The invention relates to composition and methods for expressing UDP-GlcNAc 2-Epimerase/ManNAc Kinase enzyme (GNE) in a living organism. In preferred embodiments, the invention relates to treating disease condition that involves use of therapeutically effective amount of a composition described herein.

The present application provides glycosylation engineered higher eukaryotic cells which produce homogeneous forms of sialylated glycans present on a recombinant glycoprotein. In particular, the glycosylation engineered higher eukaryotic cells produce homogeneous forms of small N-glycan structures which carry terminal sialic acid residues. In addition, the invention provides glycan-conjugates based on specific coupling with sialic acid residues present on the recombinant glycoproteins.