Nucleotide sugars metabolism

In nucleotide sugar metabolism a group of biochemicals known as nucleotide sugars act as donors for sugar residues in the glycosylation reactions that produce polysaccharides.^[1] They are substrates for glycosyltransferases.^[2] The nucleotide sugars are also intermediates in nucleotide sugar interconversions that produce some of the activated sugars needed for glycosylation reactions.^[1] Since most glycosylation takes place in the endoplasmic reticulum and golgi apparatus, there are a large family of nucleotide sugar transporters that allow nucleotide sugars to move from the cytoplasm, where they are produced, into the organelles where they are consumed.^[3][4]

Nucleotide sugar metabolism is particularly well-studied in bacterial pathogens, such as E. coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, since these molecules are required for the synthesis of glycoconjugates on the surfaces of these organisms.^[5][6] These glycoconjugates are virulence factors and components of the bacterial cell wall. These pathways are also studied in plants, but here the enzymes involved are less well understood.^[7]

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