Glycobiology & Glycochemistry

Glycobiology and Biotechnology

Various approaches have taken to understand the biological roles of glycans which include the prevention of initial glycosylation, prevention of glycan chain elongation, alteration of glycan processing, enzymatic or chemical glycosylation of completed chains, genetic elimination of glycosylation sites, and the study of naturally occurring genetic variants and mutants in glycosylation. Glycosylation mainly refers in particular to the enzymatic process that attaches glycans to proteins, lipids, or other organic molecules. This enzymatic process produces one of the fundamental biopolymers found in cells (along with DNA, RNA, and proteins).