The Glycome

Glycome: The Hidden Code in BiologyDescription: "Glycome: The Hidden Code in Biology" addresses one of the most fundamental questions in biology today. The book targets readers with little expertise as well as the experts in Glycoscience. Sugars are electroneutral. However, linking sugars to sugars, or attaching sugars to proteins or lipids changes the structural and functional identities of the glycoconjugate, and enables to form cellular networks of 4Gs [i.e., glycoproteins (N-linked or O-linked), glycosphingolipids, proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)]. These glycans (i) support growth, proliferation and differentiation of cells and tissues; (ii) protect cells from foreign invasions including bacteria, viruses, parasites as well as from changes in the extracellular environment; (iii) act as biomarkers and participate in transmembrane signaling. The glycans are not ubiquitous but they are tissue/species specific.Structurally, the glycans are diverse, and form linear to highly branched structures. This diversity is present not only across the species but also within cells of the same species, i.e., the glycoforms. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometric (MS) studies (i.e., Glycomics) have evaluated and contributed significantly in delineating the structural diversity of glycans. Glycomics, in fact, has helped in overcoming many earlier technological barriers which were otherwise very laborious and time consuming. Plant lectins being carbohydrate binding proteins with a high degree of sugar specificity have been useful tools to characterize the carbohydrate structures they recognize. The glycan structures complement their biosynthetic processes. Because of the highly compartmentalized nature of the process, the glycans move between compartments during their assembly. This is believed to be mediated by vesicular structures but the participation of exosomes cannot be ruled out. A large number of genetic disorders [gangliosidosis, mucopolysaccharidoses, congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG)] are due to abnormal glycan synthesis or degradation. Disproportionate expression of glycans is also found in diseases like cancer, neurological disorders, diabetes, metabolic syndromes, and infection. This raises questions about the regulatory principle(s) in glycan biosynthesis. There is no template for glycan chain synthesis, elongation, processing or termination. The cells/tissues follow a highly conserved mechanism. The assumption is glycosylation uses donor and acceptor interactions as the driving force. Increased or decreased synthesis of glycans in response to the environmental change influence cell function, i.e., growth, survival or death favor of a "push-pull" hypothesis. In the absence of a genetic code for sugars, the assembly as well as the processing of glycan chains are controlled by the Glycome. Unlike the genome, the Glycome is hidden for the normal eye but its communication skills with the cellular microenvironment and genome for glycan synthesis and degradation are enormous. Seventeen chapters in the book are dedicated to walk the readers through the diversities of the Glycome. The authors have used mammalian, microbial and plant systems to achieve the desired goal.

This volume provides a comprehensive understanding of the enigmatic identity of the glycome, a complex but important area of research that has been largely ignored due to its complexity. The authors thoroughly deal with almost all aspects of the glycome, i.e., elucidation of the glycan identity enigma and its role in regulation of the cellular process, and in disease etiology. The book bridges the knowledge gap in understanding the glycome, from being a cell signature to its applications in disease etiology. In addition, it details many of the major insights regarding the possible role of the glycome in various diseases as a therapeutic marker. The book systematically covers the major aspects of the glycome, including the significance of substituting the diverse monosaccharide units to glycoproteins, the role of glycans in disease pathologies, and the challenges and advances in glycobiology. The authors stress the significance and huge encoding power of carbohydrates as well as provide helpful insights in framing the bigger picture. The Glycome: Understanding the Diversity and Complexity of Glycobiology details state-of-the-art developments and emerging challenges of glycome biology, which are going to be key areas of future research, not only in the glycobiology field but also in pharmaceutics.

Sugar chains (glycans) are often attached to proteins and lipids and have multiple roles in the organization and function of all organisms. "Essentials of Glycobiology" describes their biogenesis and function and offers a useful gateway to the understanding of glycans.

A new focus on glycoscience, a field that explores the structures and functions of sugars, promises great advances in areas as diverse as medicine, energy generation, and materials science, this report finds. Glycans--also known as carbohydrates, saccharides, or simply as sugars--play central roles in many biological processes and have properties useful in an array of applications. However, glycans have received little attention from the research community due to a lack of tools to probe their often complex structures and properties. Transforming Glycoscience: A Roadmap for the Future presents a roadmap for transforming glycoscience from a field dominated by specialists to a widely studied and integrated discipline, which could lead to a more complete understanding of glycans and help solve key challenges in diverse fields.

The Handbook of Glycomics provides the first comprehensive overview of the emerging field of glycomics, defined as the study of all complex carbohydrates in an organism or cell ("the glycome"). Beginning with analytic approaches and bioinformatics, this work provides a detailed discussion of relevant databases, data integration, and analysis. It then moves on to a discussion of specific model organism and pathogen glycomes followed by therapeutic approaches to human disorders of glycosylization. Structure and function of glycomes are included along with state-of-the-art technologies and systems approaches to the analysis of glycans. Synthesizes contributions from experts in biology, chemistry, bioinformatics, biotechnology, and medicine Highlights chapters devoted to chemical synthesis, cancer glycomics and immune cell glycomics Includes discussions of proteomics, mass spectrometry, NMR, array technology, and transcriptomics analytic approaches

A Focused, State-of-the-Art Overview of This Evolving FieldPresents Various Techniques for GlycoinformaticsThe development and use of informatics tools and databases for glycobiology and glycomics research have increased considerably in recent years. In addition to accumulating well-structured glyco-related data, researchers have now developed semi

Glycans play essential roles in diverse biological and etiological processes and their structural complexity endow various functions. The glycome is the entire set of glycans produced by an individual organism. As the glycan microarray emerged, a good amount of knowledge has been obtained in understanding the functions of glycans. However, limited accessibility of glycans is a major obstacle to the functional glycomics study. Although isolation from biology samples provided some structures, the low abundance of glycans obtained and the difficulty in complete structural assignment restricted the subsequent assay. To circumvent this limitation, many synthetic strategies, including chemical, enzymatic and chemo-enzymatic ones have been developed to make libraries of structurally defined complex glycans available. The glycans provided by these techniques combined with high-throughput glycoarray techniques have broadened and deepened our understanding about functional glycomics. The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive review of the current state of the synthetic glycome and a brief introduction of the application of the synthetic glycome in glycoarray assay. Accordingly, synthetic strategies toward generating glycans with comprehensive structures as well as the glycoarrays to unveil the glycan functions are described in this book.

Due to the significant contributions of carbohydrates to the functional diversity of the cell, the challenging study of the glycome has expanded beyond the research of carbohydrate experts and into the wider scope of the life sciences. To aid all scientists now delving into this vital subject area, Glycomics: Methods and Protocols collects a compendium of detailed laboratory protocols reflecting the increasing availability of sample preparation, chromatographic, electrophoretic, mass spectrometric, and bioinformatic tools specifically designed for the analysis of glycosylation. Leading researchers in the field address subjects such as glycoprotein and proteoglycan analysis, glycosylation structure determination, as well as various approaches to investigate the interaction between glycans and a variety of carbohydrate-recognizing proteins in order to aid exploration into the functional significance of the oligosaccharides. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular BiologyTM series format, the chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Glycomics: Methods and Protocols serves as a valuable guide for experimenters facing the challenges of glycan analysis in hope of providing further insights into the biology of cell-cell communication and interaction.