Structural and functional features of glycosyltransferases

Most of the glycosylation reactions that generate the great diversity of ol igosaccharide structures of eukaryotic cells occur in the Golgi apparatus. This review deals with the most recent data that provide insight into the f unctional organization of Golgi-resident glycosyltransferases. We also focu s on the recent successes in X-ray crystal structure determination of glyco syltransferases. These new structures begin to shed light on the molecular bases accounting for donor and acceptor substrate specificities as well as catalysis. (C) 2001 Societe francaise de biochimie et biologic moleculaire/ Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.