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Glycans are complex carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units linked by glycosidic bonds, found on proteins, lipids, and cell surfaces.
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Related Terms: Glycosylation, Glycoprotein, N-Glycan, O-Glycan
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Glycosylation is the enzymatic process by which glycans are attached to proteins, lipids, or other molecules.
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Related Terms: N-Glycan, O-Glycan, Glycan Structure
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N-Glycans are glycans attached to the nitrogen atom of asparagine residues in proteins.
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Related Terms: High-mannose Glycan, Complex Glycan, Glycosylation
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O-Glycans are glycans linked to the oxygen atom of serine or threonine residues.
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Related Terms: N-Glycan, Glycoprotein, Glycosyltransferase
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A glycoprotein is a protein modified with one or more glycans covalently attached.
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Related Terms: Glycosylation, Glycan Structure, Fc Glycosylation
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Glycolipids are lipids covalently attached to glycans, primarily located on cell membranes.
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Related Terms: Glycan, Glycosphingolipid, Cell Surface Glycans
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The glycome refers to the complete set of glycans produced by a cell, tissue, or organism.
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Related Terms: Glycomics, Glycan Profiling
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Glycobiology is the study of the structure, function, and biology of glycans.
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Related Terms: Glycoengineering, Glycomics
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A monosaccharide is the simplest carbohydrate unit and the basic building block of glycans.
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Related Terms: Polysaccharide, Glycan Structure
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Polysaccharides are long chains of monosaccharides linked by glycosidic bonds.
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Related Terms: Glycan, Monosaccharide
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A glycosidic bond is the covalent linkage connecting monosaccharide units in glycans.
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Related Terms: Glycan Structure, Monosaccharide
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Fucosylation is the addition of fucose to glycans, commonly found in N-glycans.
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Related Terms: Sialylation, Antibody Glycosylation
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Sialylation is the addition of sialic acid residues to glycans, often influencing charge and function.
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Related Terms: Fucosylation, Glycoengineering
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High-mannose glycans contain multiple mannose residues and minimal branching.
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Related Terms: Complex-Type Glycan, Man5-Man9, N-Glycan
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Hybrid-type glycans contain features of both high-mannose and complex glycans.
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Related Terms: High-Mannose Glycan, Complex-Type Glycan
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Complex-type glycans are N-glycans with multiple antennae containing diverse monosaccharides such as GlcNAc, galactose, fucose, and sialic acid.
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Related Terms: Hybrid Glycan, High-Mannose Glycan, Sialylation
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Glycosyltransferases are enzymes that catalyze the transfer of monosaccharides onto growing glycans.
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Related Terms: Glycosidase, Chemoenzymatic Synthesis
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Glycosidases are enzymes that remove monosaccharides from glycans.
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Related Terms: Glycosyltransferase, PNGase F
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MGE modifies cellular glycan structures by supplying sugar analogs that cells incorporate into glycans.
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Related Terms: Glycoengineering, Glycan Labeling
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Glycan remodeling modifies existing glycans through enzymatic trimming and extension.
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Related Terms: Glycoengineering, Glycosyltransferase
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Glycoengineering refers to the targeted modification of glycan structures to alter molecular function.
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Related Terms: Glycan Remodeling, Metabolic Engineering
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Chemoenzymatic synthesis combines chemical glycan synthesis with enzymatic extension to efficiently produce complex glycans with high precision.
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Related Terms: Glycosyltransferase, Glycosidase, Glycoengineering
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Site-specific glycosylation introduces glycans at defined positions on proteins through chemical, enzymatic, or genetic approaches.
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Related Terms: Glycoengineering, Glycan Remodeling, Bioconjugation
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Click chemistry is a bioorthogonal reaction used to attach labels or molecules to glycans with high specificity.
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Related Terms: Bioconjugation, Reductive Amination
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A labeling or conjugation reaction between aldehyde groups on glycans and amines in the presence of a reducing agent.
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Related Terms: Hydrazide Coupling, Derivatization
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A glycan conjugate is a molecule in which a glycan is chemically linked to a protein, lipid, fluorophore, or drug.
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Related Terms: Bioconjugation, Click Chemistry, Glycan Antigen
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Bioconjugation is the chemical linking of two biomolecules—such as glycans, proteins, peptides, or drugs—via stable covalent bonds.
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Related Terms: Glycan Conjugation, Reductive Amination, Hydrazide Chemistry
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Fluorescent glycan labeling attaches fluorophores to glycans to enhance detection in chromatographic or imaging applications.
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Related Terms: Derivatization, CE-LIF, HPLC Glycan Analysis
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Isotope labeling incorporates stable isotope tags into glycans for quantitative mass spectrometry analysis.
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Related Terms: Mass Spectrometry, Derivatization
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A biotinylated glycan is a glycan modified with a biotin tag for affinity-based detection or isolation.
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Related Terms: Biotinylation, Glycan Microarray, Lectin
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Glycan profiling is the analytical process of identifying and quantifying glycan structures in a sample.
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Related Terms: Glycomics, Glycan Analysis
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Glycomics is the comprehensive study of all glycans (the glycome) in a biological system.
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Related Terms: Glycan Profiling, Glycome
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Derivatization is the chemical modification of glycans to enhance detection or chromatographic behavior.
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Related Terms: Permethylation, Labeling
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Mass spectrometry is a high-sensitivity analytical method used to determine glycan masses, compositions, and structures.
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Related Terms: LC-MS, MALDI-TOF, Permethylation
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HPLC glycan analysis separates labeled glycans based on hydrophilicity or size for qualitative and quantitative assessment.
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Related Terms: HILIC, Derivatization, CE-LIF
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CE-LIF uses electric field-driven separation and laser-induced fluorescence detection to analyze fluorescently labeled glycans.
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Related Terms: Fluorescent Labeling, HPLC, Glycan Separation
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Glycan release is the process of cleaving glycans from glycoproteins or glycolipids for downstream analysis.
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Related Terms: PNGase F, Derivatization, Glycan Profiling
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Fc glycosylation refers to the N-glycan attached to the Fc region of IgG antibodies.
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Related Terms: Antibody Glyco-Optimization, Glycosylation
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Engineering antibody glycans to improve therapeutic efficacy.
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Related Terms: Fc Glycosylation, Glycoengineering
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A glycan biomarker is a glycan alteration associated with a physiological or pathological state.
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Related Terms: Glycomics, Glycan Profiling
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A vaccine in which polysaccharides are chemically linked to carrier proteins to enhance immunogenicity.
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Related Terms: Glycan Conjugation, Glycan Antigen
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Therapeutics that rely on glycans or glycan interactions for function.
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Related Terms: Glycoengineering, Antibody Engineering
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Host-pathogen glycan interaction refers to the binding events between host glycans and pathogen proteins that mediate infection and immune response.
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Related Terms: Glycan Shield, Sialylation, Glycan Biomarker
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Permethylation is a chemical modification where hydroxyl groups on glycans are replaced with methyl groups.
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Related Terms: Derivatization, Mass Spectrometry
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A conjugation strategy using hydrazide groups to react with oxidized glycans.
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Related Terms: Reductive Amination, Bioconjugation
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A glycan microarray is a high-throughput platform that displays hundreds of glycans for studying glycan-protein interactions.
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Related Terms: Glycomics, Lectin, Glycan Profiling
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Solid-phase glycan synthesis builds glycans on an insoluble resin, enabling automated or rapid stepwise assembly.
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Related Terms: Automated Synthesis, Chemoenzymatic Synthesis
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Affinity purification isolates glycans or glycoproteins using specific interactions such as lectin binding or biotin-streptavidin affinity.
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Related Terms: Lectin, Biotinylation, Glycan Enrichment
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Lectin binding refers to the specific interaction between lectins and their preferred glycan motifs.
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Related Terms: Lectin, Glycan Microarray, Affinity Purification
GlyTouCan is the primary global registry for glycan structures. It provides a unique accession number for every glycan submitted, enabling standardized referencing across publications, databases, and analytical platforms. The database hosts thousands of curated glycan structures with high-quality metadata.
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UniCarbKB is a curated knowledge base focused on glycan structures, their biological context, and associated mass spectrometry data. It integrates experimental evidence with literature sources to provide biologically relevant glycan information.
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SNFG is the globally accepted visual standard for representing glycan structures using color-coded, shape-based symbols. It enables researchers to interpret complex glycan diagrams quickly and consistently.
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