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Concept
Glycosyltransferase
Summary
Glycosyltransferases (GTFs, Gtfs) are enzymes (EC 2.4) that establish natural glycosidic linkages. They catalyze the transfer of saccharide moieties from an activated nucleotide sugar (also known as the "glycosyl donor") to a nucleophilic glycosyl acceptor molecule, the nucleophile of which can be oxygen- carbon-, nitrogen-, or sulfur-based.
The result of glycosyl transfer can be a carbohydrate, glycoside, oligosaccharide, or a polysaccharide. Some glycosyltransferases catalyse transfer to inorganic phosphate or water. Glycosyl transfer can also occur to protein residues, usually to tyrosine, serine, or threonine to give O-linked glycoproteins, or to asparagine to give N-linked glycoproteins. Mannosyl groups may be transferred to tryptophan to generate C-mannosyl tryptophan, which is relatively abundant in eukaryotes. Transferases may also use lipids as an acceptor, forming glycolipids, and even use lipid-linked sugar phosphate donors, such as dolichol phosphates in eukaryotic organism, or undecaprenyl phosphate in bacteria.
Glycosyltransferases that use sugar nucleotide donors are Leloir enzymes, after Luis F. Leloir, the scientist who discovered the first sugar nucleotide and who received the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on carbohydrate metabolism. Glycosyltransferases that use non-nucleotide donors such as dolichol or polyprenol pyrophosphate are non-Leloir glycosyltransferases.
Mammals use only 9 sugar nucleotide donors for glycosyltransferases: UDP-glucose, UDP-galactose, UDP-GlcNAc, UDP-GalNAc, UDP-xylose, UDP-glucuronic acid, GDP-mannose, GDP-fucose, and CMP-sialic acid. The phosphate(s) of these donor molecules are usually coordinated by divalent cations such as manganese, however metal independent enzymes exist.
Many glycosyltransferases are single-pass transmembrane proteins, and they are usually anchored to membranes of Golgi apparatus
Glycosyltransferases can be segregated into "retaining" or "inverting" enzymes according to whether the stereochemistry of the donor's anomeric bond is retained (α→α) or inverted (α→β) during the transfer.
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Ontological neighbourhood
Related publications (23)
Related people (8)
Related concepts (16)
O-linked glycosylation
O-linked glycosylation is the attachment of a sugar molecule to the oxygen atom of serine (Ser) or threonine (Thr) residues in a protein. O-glycosylation is a post-translational modification that occurs after the protein has been synthesised. In eukaryotes, it occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and occasionally in the cytoplasm; in prokaryotes, it occurs in the cytoplasm. Several different sugars can be added to the serine or threonine, and they affect the protein in different ways by changing protein stability and regulating protein activity.
Glycan
The terms glycans and polysaccharides are defined by IUPAC as synonyms meaning "compounds consisting of a large number of monosaccharides linked glycosidically".cite book | title=IUPAC Gold Book - Glycans | chapter-url= doi=10.1351/goldbook.G02645| chapter=Glycans| year=2009| isbn=978-0-9678550-9-7 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.
Chemical glycosylation
A chemical glycosylation reaction involves the coupling of a glycosyl donor, to a glycosyl acceptor forming a glycoside. If both the donor and acceptor are sugars, then the product is an oligosaccharide. The reaction requires activation with a suitable activating reagent. The reactions often result in a mixture of products due to the creation of a new stereogenic centre at the anomeric position of the glycosyl donor.