Essentials of Glycobiology [Internet]

Excerpt

Glycobiology is the study of the structure, biosynthesis, biology, and evolution of saccharides (sugar chains or glycans) that are widely distributed in nature, in all life-forms. Glycobiology is a rapidly growing field in the natural sciences, with broad relevance to many areas of basic research, biomedicine, and biotechnology. The field includes the chemistry of carbohydrates, the enzymology of glycan formation and degradation, the recognition of glycans by specific proteins, roles of glycans in complex biological systems, and glycan analysis or manipulation by various techniques. The fourth edition of this primary textbook in the field continues in the prior tradition to provide a basic overview of Glycobiology, directed toward the advanced undergraduate or the beginning graduate-level student of molecular and cellular biology and biomedicine. This edition includes a broader focus on all lineages of life-forms; a wider range of topics, from biology and medicine to chemistry, bioenergy, and materials science; a more diverse and international group of contributing authors with expertise in specific areas; further expansion of the monosaccharide symbol nomenclature for representation of glycans; and a greater attention to informatics, with relevance to exploring the glycome in relation to the genome, transcriptome, proteome, lipidome, and metabolome.