Glycosyltransferase

Glycosyltransferases (GTFs, Gtfs) are

Glycosyltransferases can be segregated into "retaining" or "inverting" enzymes according to whether the stereochemistry of the donor's anomeric bond is retained (α→α) or inverted (α→β) during the transfer. The inverting mechanism is straightforward, requiring a single nucleophilic attack from the accepting atom to invert stereochemistry.

The retaining mechanism has been a matter of debate, but there exists strong evidence against a double displacement mechanism (which would cause two inversions about the anomeric carbon for a net retention of stereochemistry) or a dissociative mechanism (a prevalent variant of which was known as SNi). An "orthogonal associative" mechanism has been proposed which, akin to the inverting enzymes, requires only a single nucleophilic attack from an acceptor from a non-linear angle (as observed in many crystal structures) to achieve anomer retention.^[4]

Reaction reversibility

The recent discovery of the reversibility of many reactions catalyzed by inverting glycosyltransferases served as a paradigm shift in the field and raises questions regarding the designation of sugar nucleotides as 'activated' donors.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Classification by sequence

Sequence-based classification methods have proven to be a powerful way of generating hypotheses for protein function based on sequence alignment to related proteins. The carbohydrate-active enzyme database presents a sequence-based classification of glycosyltransferases into over 90 families.^[10] The same three-dimensional fold is expected to occur within each of the families.^[11]

Structure

In contrast to the diversity of 3D structures observed for

The ABO blood group system is determined by what type of glycosyltransferases are expressed in the body.

The ABO

The combination of glycosyltransferases by both alleles present in each person determines whether there is an AB, A, B or O blood type.

Uses

Glycosyltransferases have been widely used in both the targeted synthesis of specific glycoconjugates as well as the synthesis of differentially glycosylated libraries of drugs, biological probes or natural products in the context of drug discovery and drug development (a process known as glycorandomization).^[17] Suitable enzymes can be isolated from natural sources or produced recombinantly. As an alternative, whole cell-based systems using either endogenous glycosyl donors or cell-based systems containing cloned and expressed systems for synthesis of glycosyl donors have been developed. In cell-free approaches, the large-scale application of glycosyltransferases for glycoconjugate synthesis has required access to large quantities of the glycosyl donors. On the flip-side, nucleotide recycling systems that allow the resynthesis of glycosyl donors from the released nucleotide have been developed. The nucleotide recycling approach has a further benefit of reducing the amount of nucleotide formed as a by-product, thereby reducing the amount of inhibition caused to the glycosyltransferase of interest – a commonly observed feature of the nucleotide byproduct.

See also

• Carbohydrate chemistry
• Chemical glycosylation
• Glucuronosyltransferase
• Glycogen synthase
• Glycosyl acceptor
• Glycosyl donor
• Glycosylation
• Oligosaccharyltransferase

References