Blog

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)...

By: Richard D. Cummings

While plant cellulose is very famous, many commercial products containing cellulose actually use bacterial cellulose.  It is often a part of bacterial biofilms, typically of...

By: Richard D. Cummings

The definition of a rare sugar is a monosaccharide that is found in small quantities relative to more common sugars in nature, e.g., glucose and N-acetylglucosamine (1-3). ...

By: Richard D. Cummings

Sialic acid is a nonose (9-carbon) monosaccharide found in many organisms.  All vertebrates have sialic acid, while most invertebrates do not have sialic acid, but there are...

By: Richard D. Cummings

Collagen is the most common and abundant glycoprotein in animals (1).  Even sponges have collagen (termed spongin) and it is glycosylated much like mammalian collagen.  Its...

By: Richard D. Cummings

Many different monosaccharides from trioses (3-carbon) to decoses (10-carbon) and above are found in nature (1).  The most famous nonose (9-carbon) in human glycans is N...