Glycosylation is the reaction in which a carbohydrate (or 'glycan'), i.e. a glycosyl donor, is attached to a hydroxyl or other functional group of another molecule (a glycosyl acceptor) in order to form a glycoconjugate. In biology (but not always in chemistry), glycosylation usually refers to an enzyme-catalysed reaction, whereas glycation (also 'non-enzymatic glycation' and 'non-enzymatic glycosylation') may refer to a non-enzymatic reaction. Glycans serve a variety of structural and functional roles in membrane and secreted proteins. Glycosylation is the process by which a carbohydrate is covalently attached to a target macromolecule, typically proteins and lipids. This modification serves various functions. Viral proteins are glycosylated by the host-cell as viruses are able to hijack cellular glycosylation. In addition, as glycans are genetically encoded, glycosylation can be under significant selective pressure from factors such as immune evasion, and functions in glycoprotein folding and assembly. Here you have a good example of viral glycosylated protein, illustrated by the cryoEM structure of the lineage IV Lassa virus glycoprotein complex (PDB code: 8EJD)

#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #virus ... #glycosylation ... #posttranslational ... #modification ... #covalent ... #cryoem ... #lassa

Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint