Structural and mechanistic studies of inverting glycosidases

糖在自然界中无处不在。它们覆盖在活细胞的表面，为生物体提供营养和能量，是木材和其他有机物种的主要成分，以及许多其他作用。糖及其聚合物、碳水化合物或多糖一直是从有机来源提取燃料、造纸等过程以及糖尿病和癌症等医疗应用的重点。这些过程通常依赖于将多糖有效地降解为单糖的能力。糖的加工是由被称为糖苷水解酶(GH)或糖苷酶的酶进行的，它打破了将糖聚集在一起的聚合链中的键。

Sugars are everywhere in nature. They coat the surface of living cells, provide nutrition and energy to organisms, and are primary components of wood and other organic species, among many other roles. Sugars and their polymers, carbohydrates or polysaccharides, have been the focus of applications in deriving fuel from organic sources, in processes such as paper production, and in medical applications such as diabetes and cancer. These processes generally depend on the ability to degrade polysaccharides into individual sugars efficiently. Sugar processing is carried out by enzymes called glycoside hydrolases (GH) or glycosidases, which break the bonds that hold sugars together in their polymer chains.