Enzymes for Glycoprotein Synthesis

Abstract

More than 90% of human proteins are glycosylated and since protein glycosylation is understood to play a role in folding, trafficking, stability, immunogenicity, and function there is a need to generate pure protein glycoforms. Pure single protein glycoforms are difficult to obtain because the cellular machinary produces complex mixtures for any given protein. In this article an overview is given of various approaches used to generate specific single glycoforms of proteins, studies of the role of glycosylation in protein stability and function, and the imaging and identification of new glycoproteins related to cancer.