Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.
Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2012 Jun 22;13(7):448-62. doi: 10.1038/nrm3383.
Protein glycosylation is a ubiquitous post-translational modification found in all domains of life. Despite their significant complexity in animal systems, glycan structures have crucial biological and physiological roles, from contributions in protein folding and quality control to involvement in a large number of biological recognition events. As a result, they impart an additional level of 'information content' to underlying polypeptide structures. Improvements in analytical methodologies for dissecting glycan structural diversity, along with recent developments in biochemical and genetic approaches for studying glycan biosynthesis and catabolism, have provided a greater understanding of the biological contributions of these complex structures in vertebrates.
蛋白质糖基化是一种普遍存在的翻译后修饰，存在于所有生命领域。尽管在动物系统中它们的结构非常复杂，但聚糖结构具有重要的生物学和生理学作用，从参与蛋白质折叠和质量控制到参与大量的生物识别事件。因此，它们为基础多肽结构提供了额外的“信息含量”。用于剖析聚糖结构多样性的分析方法的改进，以及用于研究聚糖生物合成和分解代谢的生化和遗传方法的最新进展，使人们对这些复杂结构在脊椎动物中的生物学贡献有了更深入的了解。
