title: Glycosyl transfer: a history of the concept's development and view of its major contributions to biochemistry.
abstract: Humans have fewer protein-coding genes than expected for all the inherent complexities of development. Supplementary factors include the post-translational modification of proteins by glycosylation. The latter term plus transglycosylation, glycosyltransferases, and 'to glycosylate' are used in biochemistry as though they always existed. Instead they have a history that can bring new insights in this science area to younger investigators. The present account describes five decades of findings and ideas on enzymic saccharide synthesis leading, finally to a rational theory that will surely continue to serve the biosciences well in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. vkalten@aecom.yu.edu
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hehre
mesh_terms: D001671:Biochemistry / Q000266:history; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism; D006031:Glycosylation; D016695:Glycosyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical
chemical_list: D016695:Glycosyltransferases; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; C019822:carbohydrase