GlcA-ABP

This glucuronic acid activity-based probe (GlcA-ABP) is a glucuronidated metabolite mimic that provides in situ detection of active β-glucuronidases in the gut microbiome. The probe reacts with nucleophilic residues of the target, and the alkyne tag enables subsequent bioorthogonal tagging via click chemistry for enrichment (i.e. biotin tags) or imaging and cell sorting (i.e. fluorescent tags). With GlcA-ABP, Whidbey, et al were able to pair the activity-based probe (ABP) with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS; ABP-FACS) to identify β-glucuronidase-active taxa in the gut microbiota.

Currently in gut microbiome research, access to and differentiation between subpopulations and their relationships to host biochemistry is a challenge. Functional and chemical approaches such as those with GlcA-ABP provide a complementary tool to gene sequencing.