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However, in practice the term glycan may also be used to refer to the carbohydrate portion of a glycoconjugate, such as a glycoprotein, glycolipid, or a proteoglycan, even if the carbohydrate is only an oligosaccharide. [2] Glycans usually consist solely of O-glycosidic linkages of monosaccharides. For example, cellulose is a glycan (or, to be ...
Skin. See also. References. External links. Glycobiology. Defined in the narrowest sense, glycobiology is the study of the structure, biosynthesis, and biology of saccharides ( sugar chains or glycans) that are widely distributed in nature.
USA.gov. This chapter provides an overview of the biological functions of glycans in three broad categories: structural roles in, on, and outside cells; energy metabolism, including nutrient storage and sequestration; and information carriers, that is, specific recognition—most commonly by glycan-binding proteins of intrinsic or extrinsic origin.
Dec 28, 2016 · Simple and complex carbohydrates (glycans) have long been known to play major metabolic, structural and physical roles in biological systems. Targeted microbial binding to host glycans has also been studied for decades. But such biological roles can only explain some of the remarkable complexity and organismal diversity of glycans in nature.
- Ajit Varki
- 2017
N-Glycans affect many properties of glycoproteins including their conformation, solubility, antigenicity, activity, and recognition by glycan-binding proteins (GBPs). Introduction of an N-glycan site (Asn-X-Ser/Thr) is used as a method to localize or orient a glycoprotein in the secretory pathway, or to follow its trafficking through the cell.
USA.gov. Glycans mediate or modulate numerous physiologic functions. This brief chapter focuses on vertebrate physiology (predominantly human), providing physiologists and physicians an overview of glycan impacts on organ system functions. Pathological aspects of glycan biosynthesis and degradation are discussed elsewhere.
