The biosynthesis pathway of N-glycans is a costly system with respect to the number of enzymes that are involved in the synthesis and trimming of N-glycans. While the structural diversity of N-glycans in mature proteins in the cell surface is introduced by glycosyltransferases in the Golgi complex, the core glycans in the ER are universal from yeast to mammal and have been considered as intermediates.

Contributor: Kosi Gramatikoff, PhD

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