Abstract
In general, sialic acid is found at the terminal positions of sialylated glycoconjugates where it has roles in cell-cell recognition, cell differentiation, and receptor-ligand binding. Sialyltransferases (EC no. 2.4.99) catalyze the transfer of sialic acid from the nucleotide sugar donor CMP-Sia to acceptor oligosaccharides found on glycoproteins, glycolipids, and polysaccharides. Genomic databases on various organisms revealed the occurrence of many sialyltransferases and their homologs including vertebrates, insects, virus, plants, and so on. Here, I mainly summarized the cloned sialyltransferases that had been characterized their linkage and acceptor specificities in vitro. The abbreviated nomenclature for cloned sialyltransferases follows the system of Tsuji et al. (1996).
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Tsuji, S. (2008). Sialyltransferases. In: Taniguchi, N., Suzuki, A., Ito, Y., Narimatsu, H., Kawasaki, T., Hase, S. (eds) Experimental Glycoscience. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-77922-3_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-77922-3_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-77921-6
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-77922-3
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