Direct imaging reveals individual protein-bound glycans in new detail

Scanning tunnelling microscopy has enabled researchers to directly image important sugar molecules attached to lipids and proteins. The experiments provide a picture at the single-molecule level of the sequences and locations of glycans bound to important biomolecules, offering new insight into the role they play in biology.

Glycans are carbohydrates that play critical roles in almost all biological processes. But despite their abundance in cells, these molecules are notoriously difficult to study. Now, a team of researchers from across Europe has used microscopy techniques to reveal new details about how glycans bind to proteins.