The EMBO workshop on Glycosylation at the Golgi Complex: Towards a New Cellular Glycobiology?

Unlike nucleic acids and peptides, glycans are template-free biopolymers. Their sequences are not genetically determined, but rather they emerge from the configuration of dedicated cellular synthetic machineries. Glycan assembly on proteins and lipids is accomplished along the biosynthetic pathway with the Golgi complex hosting about 200 different enzymes and additional accessory factors required for glycosylation. The subcellular organization of these enzymes and factors along with the regional provision of their substrates, which are both dictated by intracellular trafficking, largely shapes the cellular glycome. On the other hand, increasing evidence underlines the influence of specific glycans on membrane trafficking events along the secretory and endocytic pathways. This strict two-way relationship would suggest that glycosylation and membrane trafficking (at least that happening at the Golgi complex) should be the playground for a single scientific community.