“Click” Xylosides Initiate Glycosaminoglycan Biosynthesis in a Mammalian Cell Line

✍ Scribed by Balagurunathan Kuberan; Manivannan Ethirajan; Xylophone V. Victor; Vy Tran; Khiem Nguyen; Anh Do

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 233 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1439-4227
• DOI: 10.1002/cbic.200700494

✦ Synopsis

Proteoglycans are composed of a core protein and several complex glycosaminoglycan (GAG) polysaccharide side chains. [1,2] Heparan sulfate (HS), chondroitin sulfate (CS) and dermatan sulfate (DS) belong to the family of GAGs. In humans, these GAG side chains have been shown to regulate many biological functions, including wound healing, cell signaling, cell differentiation, angiogenesis, blood clotting, and tumor-cell migration. [3][4][5][6] GAGs consist of repeating disaccharide units of hexosamine and uronic acid, and are covalently A C H T U N G T R E N N U N G attached to a serine residue of the core protein via a specific linkage tetrasaccharide (Figure 1). The very first step in GAG synthesis is xylosylation of a serine residue of the core protein, followed by assembly of a tetrasaccharide unit that serves as an acceptor for elongation of GAG chains.