The Challenge and Promise of Glycomics

Abstract

Glycomics is a broad and emerging scientific discipline focused on defining the structures and functional roles of glycans in biological systems. The staggering complexity of the glycome, minimally defined as the repertoire of glycans expressed in a cell or organism, has resulted in many challenges that must be overcome; these are being addressed by new advances in mass spectrometry, as well as expansion of genetic and cell biology studies. Conversely, identifying the specific glycan recognition determinants of glycan-binding proteins by employing the new technology of glycan microarrays is providing insights into how glycans function in recognition and signaling within an organism and with microbes and pathogens. The promises of a more complete knowledge of glycomes are immense in that glycan modifications of intracellular and extracellular proteins have critical functions in almost all biological pathways.

Overview of Glycoscience

“…Furthermore, the extremely limited types of glycan structures on glycoproteins and relatively glycoprotein-specific glycosylation, such as observed for alpha-dystroglycan, N-CAM, PSGL-1, collagens, glycogenin, pituitary hormones, membrane transporters such as the erythrocyte band 3 anion exchanger, and the dozen or so proteoglycans, along with Skp1 in slime molds, may represent more of the normal situation, rather than the exception, in animal cell glycoconjugates. Rare and unusual forms of protein glycosylation are being found at a rapid pace (Lafite and Daniellou 2012) and 9 of the 20 amino acids are known to be glycosylated (Cummings and Pierce 2014), similar to what is known for protein phosphorylation. Thus, new perspectives and paradigms are needed and will undoubtedly arise as the field continues its ascension.…”

“…Just as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are used as influenza neuraminidase inhibitors, and heparin is commonly used as an anticoagulant, new drugs that target glycan-related pathways need to be developed based on better knowledge of protein structure and high-throughput screening methods. Finally, new technologies are needed for glycan identification in a spatial and temporal manner in order to map out and define glycan expression on and within cells and in their secretions and matrices (Cummings and Pierce 2014). Antibodies to glycan antigens have been useful historically, but most are not easily obtainable, and few well-defined antibodies are available.…”

IRMPD Spectroscopy Sheds New (Infrared) Light on the Sulfate Pattern of Carbohydrates

“…1,2 A major challenge in the characterization of glycosidic chains is the versatility of structures as a consequence of dynamic modifications as well as of their non--gene driven nature. In this field, mass spectrometry (MS) has become a primary technique for characterization, especially when only small quantities or complex samples are available.…”

Interações moleculares no mecanismo de ação da galectina-4 humana

“…2 A glicômica tem como foco o entendimento da biossíntese e a determinação estrutural e funcional de glicanos envolvidos em sistemas biológicos. 3 No entanto, diferentemente da genômica e da proteômica, os objetos de estudo da glicômica não estão baseados na codificação pelo DNA e sim pela codificação de glicanos: o glicocódigo. O glicocódigo é muito mais complexo, variado e de difícil análise quando comparado a proteínas ou ácidos nucleicos.…”

“…3 Desta forma, vários estudos têm mostrado que os glicanos contribuem de forma geral e/ou específica em quase todos os processos biológicos regulatórios. 3 Assim, anormalidades na sua síntese ou disfunções relacionadas a glicanos e glicoconjugados podem levar a uma série de diferentes doenças e desordens. , formando o que se chama de glicoproteínas.…”