Glycan-binding proteins and related compositions and methods

A method of producing a glycan-binding protein, comprising:

• providing a protein scaffold comprising Sso7d, wherein the protein scaffold has no more than 200 amino acid residues, with a binding face area of less than or equal to 6 square nanometers (nm2);
• generating one or more variants of the protein scaffold;
• determining binding and/or binding selectivity of the one or more variants to a monosaccharide or disaccharide-binding determinant;
• selecting, from the one or more variants, a variant exhibiting increased binding and/or binding selectivity to the monosaccharide or disaccharide-binding determinant, relative to the protein scaffold and/or prior steps;
• and
• repeating the generating, determining and selecting steps, using the variant exhibiting increased binding and/or binding selectivity to the monosaccharide or disaccharide-binding determinant in each repeat.