This chapter provides an overview of glycosylation patterns across biological taxa and discusses glycan complexity and diversity from an evolutionary perspective. As much of the currently available information concerns vertebrates, this chapter emphasizes comparisons between vertebrate glycans and those of other taxa. Evolutionary processes that likely determine generation of glycan diversity are briefly considered, including intrinsic host glycan-binding protein functions and interactions of hosts with extrinsic pathogens or symbionts.
Copyright © 2022 The Consortium of Glycobiology Editors, La Jolla, California; published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; doi:10.1101/glycobiology.4e.20. All rights reserved.