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Welcome to CAZypedia! The Living Encyclopedia of Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes. Now containing the following Curator Approved content: 144 Glycoside Hydrolase (GH) Family pages, 18 Polysaccharide Lyase (PL) Family pages, 8 Carbohydrate Esterase (CE) Family pages, 7 Auxiliary Activity (AA) Family pages, 6 Glycosyltransferase (GT) Family pages, 65 Carbohydrate Binding Module (CBM) Family pages, and 24 Lexicon pages!

Purpose CAZypedia has been initiated as a community-driven resource to assemble a comprehensive encyclopedia of the "CAZymes," the carbohydrate-active enzymes and associated carbohydrate-binding modules involved in the synthesis and degradation of complex carbohydrates. CAZypedia is inspired by, and closely connected with, the actively curated CAZy Database. It's probably fair to say that CAZypedians are, like our friends at the CAZy DB, a group of "biocurators." If you are new to the CAZyme classification, "Sorting the Diverse" by Professors Gideon Davies and Michael Sinnott (The Biochemist, 2008, vol. 30, part 4, pp. 26-32) provides an excellent introduction and historical perspective. Content CAZypedia initially focussed on the Glycoside Hydrolase Families defined in the CAZy Database, and we continue to strive for complete coverage of this diverse class of enzymes. Other catabolic and anabolic CAZymes, as well as Auxiliary redox enzymes and non-catalytic Carbohydrate Binding Modules, continue to be incorporated as interest and engagement from the scientific community grows. In addition, there is a Lexicon of terms relevant to CAZymes and carbohydrate chemistry. These and other aspects of CAZypedia's content can be accessed through the menus on the left side of each page. How CAZypedia works CAZypedia is built on authoring and editing principles similar to those of other expert-based online encyclopedias (cf. Citizendium, Scholarpedia). All contributors to CAZypedia, from the Authors to the Board of Curators, are experts in the field. Transparency is achieved through the use of contributors' real names and published biographies in CAZypedia. Individual entries in CAZypedia are managed by Responsible Curators, who are responsible for selecting expert Authors and coordinating author contributions on individual pages. Selection of Responsible Curators, based on their specialist expertise and ability to participate in the active maintenance of entry content, is handled by the Senior Curators. More information on CAZypedia's content and editorial policies is available here. A short lecture and a set of slides presenting CAZypedia are freely available here. An article describing CAZypedia's genesis and evolution has been published in the journal Glycobiology. Contact If you would like to get involved with CAZypedia or suggest an improvement, please contact the Board of Curators.

Latest news 16 June 2026: A new PL page on the books! Author Tobias Tandrup and Responsible Curator Birte Svensson finalized CAZypedia's 18th Curator Approved Polysaccharide Lyase Family page today, Polysaccharide Lyase Family 38. PL38 is a comparatively new family, discovered in 2019, of beta(1,4)-glucuronan and alginate lyases from diverse bacteria and fungi. Recently, Tobias, Birte, and their colleagues and collaborators (including Finn) characterized a remarkable "Swiss Army knife" enzyme from a human gut bacterium that catalyzes both syn- and anti-elimination, as well as C-5 epimerization of alginate motifs. Learn more about this cool enzyme and the rest of the family here. 13 March 2026: Three more on beta-one-two! Masahiro Nakajima completed and Curator Approved no less than three new pages on beta(1-2)-glucanases today. First reported by Masahiro Nakajima and co-workers in a single publication in 2025, Glycoside Hydrolase Family 192, Glycoside Hydrolase Family 193, and Glycoside Hydrolase Family 194 further expand our understanding of beta(1-2)-glucan metabolism in bacteria. Masahiro Nakajima has truly been instrumental in revealing new beta(1-2)-glucan-active hydrolases and transglycosylases, leading to the establishment of several new families in CAZy, so make sure to check-out his work on GH192, GH193, and GH194, as well as GH144, GH162, GH186, and GH189! 23 January 2026: An oldie, but a goodie: As our first page of the new year, the Glycoside Hydrolase Family 71 page, written by Antonielle Vieira Monclaro, was Curator Approved by Johan Larsbrink today. GH71 is a family of mostly fungal alpha-1,3-glucanases that was established and subjected to mechanistic characterization in the early 2000s. More recently in 2025, the Yano and Larsbrink groups independently presented the first crystal structures of GH71 members (from Schizosaccharomyces and Aspergillus, respectively). Antonielle wrote an excellent overview of GH71, which you should definitely check out here. > older news

Dedication CAZypedia is dedicated to the late Prof. Bruce Stone, whose enthusiasm to create a comprehensive encyclopedia of carbohydrate-active enzymes was essential in the genesis of this project.