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

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 N-glycosylation 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.