Glycosyltransferases

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• Author: Spencer Williams
• Responsible Curator: Spencer Williams

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Overview

Glycosyltransferases are enzymes that catalyze the formation of the glycosidic linkage to form a glycoside. These enzymes utilize 'activated' sugar phosphates as glycosyl donors, and catalyze glycosyl group transfer to a nucleophilic group, usually an alcohol. The product of glycosyl transfer may be an O-, N-, S-, or C-glycoside; the glycoside may be part of a monosaccharide glycoside, oligosaccharide, or polysaccharide ([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]).

Donors

Glycosyltransferases can utilize a range of donor species. Sugar mono- or diphosphonucleotides are sometimes termed Leloir donors (after Nobel prize winner, Luis Leloir); the corresponding enzymes are termed Leloir donors.

Glycosyltransferases that utilize non-nucleotide donors, which may be polyprenol pyrophosphates, polyprenol phosphates, sugar-1-phosphates, or sugar-1-pyrophosphates, are termed non-Leloir glycosyltransferases.

Mechanism

Glycosyltransferases catalyze the transfer of glycosyl groups to a nucleophilic acceptor with either retention or inversion of configuration at the anomeric centre. This allows the classification of glycosyltransferases as either retaining or inverting enzymes.

Inverting glycosyltransferases

Structural and kinetic data for inverting glycosyltransferases support a mechanism that proceeds through a single nucleophilic substitution step, facilitated by an enzymic general base catalyst. The transition state is believed to possess substantial oxocarbenium ion character.

References

2. Lairson LL, Henrissat B, Davies GJ, and Withers SG. (2008). Glycosyltransferases: structures, functions, and mechanisms. Annu Rev Biochem. 2008;77:521-55. DOI:10.1146/annurev.biochem.76.061005.092322 |
3. Coutinho PM, Deleury E, Davies GJ, and Henrissat B. (2003). An evolving hierarchical family classification for glycosyltransferases. J Mol Biol. 2003;328(2):307-17. DOI:10.1016/s0022-2836(03)00307-3 |
4. Campbell JA, Davies GJ, Bulone V, and Henrissat B. (1997). A classification of nucleotide-diphospho-sugar glycosyltransferases based on amino acid sequence similarities. Biochem J. 1997;326 ( Pt 3)(Pt 3):929-39. DOI:10.1042/bj3260929u |
5. Claus-Wilhelm von der Lieth, Thomas Luetteke, and Martin Frank. (2010-01-19) Bioinformatics for Glycobiology and Glycomics: An Introduction. Wiley.

   Coutinho PM, Rancurel C, Stam M, Bernard T, Couto FM, Danchin EGJ, Henrissat B. Carbohydrate-active Enzymes Database: Principles and Classification of Glycosyltransferases, Chapter 5.