O-mannosyl glycans in mammals.

Most proteins within living organisms contain glycans. Glycan structures can modulate the biological properties and functions of glycoproteins. The major glycans of glycoproteins can be classified into two groups, N-glycans and O-glycans, according to their glycan-peptide linkage regions. Developments in glycobiology have revealed a new type of glycosidic linkage to the peptide portion, the O-mannosyl linkage, in mammals, while so far it had been thought to be specific to yeast. This review will give an outline of the O-mannosyl glycans of mammalian glycoproteins. Since one of the most well known O-mannosyl-modified mammalian glycoproteins is dystroglycan, the functional aspects of the O-mannosyl glycan of dystroglycan will be described to help understand this new glycobiological field.