Hallmarks of Caenorhabditis elegans N-glycosylation:: complexity and controversy

Caenorhabditis elegans has become one of the most widely used model organisms for a range of molecular cell biological applications and is being increasingly used by glycobiologists. However, a major problem has been the lack of knowledge of the structure of the protein-linked glycans from this organism. In recent years several groups have published structural data, particularly N-glycan structural data. However, some of these data are contradictory. In this review we critically assess all the N-glycan structural data and consider how close we are in our goal of defining the glycome of C. elegans. (C) 2003 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS and Societe francaise de biochimie et biologic moleculaire. All rights reserved.