Recent advances in glycomics and glycogenetics.
As the human genome sequence is nearly deciphered, it is important to turn the attention to the physiological functions of the genes. Thus, the study of the gene products, the proteins, is the next big challenge. The proteins, however, are not the final gene products in many cases. It has been shown that carbohydrates participate in post-translational modifications and in many other functional regulations, hence the study of the glycome, the entire collection of carbohydrates is essential in order to determine the functions of all genes, and will greatly enhance the field of chemical genetics. Known biological function / targets of carbohydrates and combinatorial synthesis & structural analysis of natural / non-natural carbohydrates are surveyed in this review. Methods to search for new biological targets that include carbohydrate mimetics and carbohydrate scaffolds along with chip technology, are also presented.
Khersonsky
Sonya M
SM
Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
Ho
Christine M
CM
Garcia
Mary-Anne F
MA
Chang
Young-Tae
YT
D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques / Q000379:methods; D006027:Glycosides / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000378:metabolism; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D002241:Carbohydrates; D006027:Glycosides; D037102:Lectins; D009844:Oligosaccharides