How Does Glycosylation Determine Protein Function?

Glycosylation is an important and highly regulated mechanism of secondary protein processing within cells. It plays a critical role in determining protein structure, function and stability. ... Changes in these complexes result in alterations in how they recruit, interact and activate signaling proteins (e.g. G proteins).

How does glycosylation affect protein function?

Glycosylation starts at the endoplasmic reticulum during protein synthesis in the ribosome. ... Moreover, the covalent binding of glycans to the protein surface may inherently enhance the thermal and kinetic stability of proteins. They can, in principle, stabilize proteins by affecting their underlying energy landscapes.

What purpose does glycosylation of proteins serve?

Introduction. Glycosylation is a critical function of the biosynthetic-secretory pathway in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus. Approximately half of all proteins typically expressed in a cell undergo this modification, which entails the covalent addition of sugar moieties to specific amino acids.