Blog

By: Richard D. Cummings

Sugar alcohols are a reduced form of a sugar in which the aldehyde or ketone is replaced with an -OH, and sometimes referred to as polyols.  Strictly speaking, the definition...

By: Richard D. Cummings

Among the 900-1,400 genes on the human X chromosome (1, 2)[1], there are many genes important in the metabolism of glycomolecules, including glycosyltransferases...

By: Richard D. Cummings

In the mid 1980s it was strongly believed that all glycosylated proteins arose within the secretory pathway, which generated both secreted and membrane-bound (plasma membrane)...

By: Richard D. Cummings

Most, if not all, of the carbohydrates and glycans in animals are reducing glycans in their free form, either as they are generated, e.g., milk sugars, or upon release from...

By: Richard D. Cummings

Antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) are named due to their unusual ability to inhibit ice formation (1). Antifreeze glycoproteins and proteins are also called ice structuring...

By: Richard D. Cummings

We usually think of polysaccharides as being relatively inert.  However, dust explosions in grain elevators and in areas of high density of corn starch or polysaccharide...

By: Richard D. Cummings

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are sphingolipids, such as ceramide, to which sugars are linked.  They are found in virtually all organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants, and...

By: Richard D. Cummings

The major urinary glycoprotein is the Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP), also named uromodulin (Umod), and encoded by UMOD (1-4). Its concentration in urine can be as high as 1-2 mg...

By: Richard D. Cummings

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of many types of cells contain members of a family of UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs).  These enzymes utilize uridine diphosphate glucuronic...

By: Richard D. Cummings

One of the most unusual glycoproteins and one used commonly in biological research and immunology is KLH, which is derived from the giant keyhole limpet (Megathura crenulata)...