Biosynthetic controls that determine the branching and microheterogeneity of protein-bound oligosaccharides.

Detailed studies on the enzyme machinery responsible for the biosynthesis of protein-bound oligosaccharides of the Asn-GlcNAc and Ser(Thr)-GalNAc linkage types have allowed the formulation of some general rules which explain, at least in part, the branching patterns and microheterogeneity of these structures. These rules are discussed under the following headings: competition of two or more enzymes for a common substrate; controls at the level of enzyme substrate specificity (e.g., critical sugar residues which turn enzyme activity on or off, branch specificity, and the role of the polypeptide in the glycoprotein substrate); substrate availability.