GLYCOprotein N-glycosylation from non-life to eukaryotes: a Doctoral Network to expand the knowledge on a ubiquitous posttranslational modification

Glyco-N培训网络旨在培训博士生(DC)，以获得制定不同创新战略的技能，以1)了解古生物、微藻和病毒N-糖基化的多样性和结构复杂性，以及2)利用这些知识在生物医学和生物技术方面找到新的解决方案。蛋白质N-糖基化，即寡糖和多糖附着在特定的天冬酰胺残基上，在整个生命周期中都是保守的，现在甚至在病毒世界中也能观察到。与真核生物不同的是，真核生物被广泛研究的N-糖基化机制相对简单，而古生菌、微藻和细菌利用各种各样的单糖来产生丰富的结构多样化的N-糖链，最近发现的一些病毒也是如此。由于蛋白质糖基化发生在蛋白质合成的下游，对N-糖链结构的复杂性和多样性缺乏详细的了解。这一点尤其适用于作为Glyco-N计划主题的N糖基化事件：古细菌、微藻和病毒中的那些事件。了解古生菌、微藻和病毒中N-糖基化的方式和原因将打开许多可能性，从药物发现(抗病毒药物)到生物技术(材料和生命科学的糖蛋白和糖处理酶工程)。Glyco-N网络汇集了一批在微生物学、(生物)有机化学、计算和结构生物学、生物信息学和化学生物学方面具有世界领先专业知识的糖生物学研究人员。Glyco-N DC将与一名Glyco-N专家一起进行他们自己的单独项目，并将通过研究实习接触到补充的糖科学。所有独立的博士项目，虽然植根于基础科学，但在生物技术或生物医学方面都有实际应用，这将通过与我们相关合作伙伴的借调来探索。

The GLYCO-N training network aims at training Doctoral Candidates (DCs) to acquire the skills to develop different innovative strategies to 1) understand the diversity and structural complexity of archaeal, microalgal and viral N-glycosylation and 2) harness this knowledge for new solutions in biomedicine and biotechnology. Protein N-glycosylation, or the attachment of oligo- and polysaccharides at specific asparagine residues, is conserved throughout life, and is now observed even in the viral world. In contrast to eukaryotes, whose well-studied N-glycosylation machineries are relatively simple, archaea, microalgae and bacteria utilize a wide variety of monosaccharides to create a wealth of structurally diverse N-glycans, and the same holds true for some recently discovered viruses. Because protein glycosylation occurs far downstream of protein synthesis the complexity and diversity in N-glycan structures are poorly understood in detail. This holds true specifically for Nglycosylation events that are the subject of the GLYCO-N program: those in archaea, microalgae and viruses. Understanding of the how and why of N-glycosylation in archaea, microalgae and viruses will open up many possibilities ranging from drug discovery (antivirals) to biotechnology (glycoprotein and glycoprocessing enzyme engineering for materials and life sciences). The GLYCO-N network brings together a diverse group of glycobiology researchers with world-leading expertise in microbiology, (bio)organic chemistry, computational and structural biology, bioinformatics and chemical biology. The GLYCO-N DCs will have their own individual project with one GLYCO-N expert and will, through research internships, be exposed to complementary Glycoscience. All individual PhD projects, while rooted in fundamental science, have a practical application, either in biotechnology or in biomedicine, as will be explored through secondments with our associated partners