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Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 5, 582–588 (1 July 2004) | doi:10.1038/nrm1428

Oligosaccharide microarrays to decipher the glyco code

Ten Feizi & Wengang Chai

The oligosaccharide moieties of glycoproteins, glycolipids, proteoglycans and polysaccharides are highly diverse, the reason for this diversity is not yet understood. Neoglycolipid technology allows the generation of oligosaccharide probes with lipid tags from desired sources and is showing promise as a basis for oligosaccharide microarrays. Such microarrays would allow surveys of glycomes and proteomes to be carried out, which would enable the molecular definition of carbohydrate-recognition systems in whole organisms.