Glycopeptide

Glycopeptides are peptides that contain carbohydrate moieties (glycans) covalently attached to the side chains of the amino acid residues that constitute the peptide.

Over the past few decades it has been recognised that glycans on cell surface (attached to membrane proteins or lipids) and those bound to proteins (glycoproteins) play a critical role in biology. For example, these constructs have been shown to play important roles in fertilization,[1] the immune system,[2] brain development,[3] the endocrine system,[3] and inflammation.[3][4][5]

The synthesis of glycopeptides provides biological probes for researchers to elucidate glycan function in nature and products that have useful therapeutic and biotechnological applications.[clarification needed][citation needed]

  1. ^ Talbot P.; Shur B. D.; Myles D. G. (2003). "Cell adhesion and fertilization: Steps in oocyte transport, sperm-zona pellucida interactions, and sperm-egg fusion". Biology of Reproduction. 68 (1): 1–9. doi:10.1095/biolreprod.102.007856. PMID 12493688. S2CID 10166894.
  2. ^ Rudd P. M.; Elliott T.; Cresswell P.; Wilson I. A.; Dwek R. A. (2001). "Glycosylation and the immune system". Science. 291 (5512): 2370–2376. Bibcode:2001Sci...291.2370R. doi:10.1126/science.291.5512.2370. PMID 11269318.
  3. ^ a b c Varki A (1993). "Biological Roles of Oligosaccharides - All of the Theories Are Correct". Glycobiology. 3 (2): 97–130. doi:10.1093/glycob/3.2.97. PMC 7108619. PMID 8490246.
  4. ^ Bertozzi C. R.; Kiessling L. L. (2001). "Chemical glycobiology". Science. 291 (5512): 2357–2364. Bibcode:2001Sci...291.2357B. doi:10.1126/science.1059820. PMID 11269316. S2CID 9585674.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference immune_glycan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).