Scientific Validation

New Scientist 26 October 2002 Magazine issue 2366

“Once dismissed as mere decoration, sugar molecules turn out to be vital components in life's intricate machinery. Now the race is on to exploit them, says Karen Schmidt”

From Article Preview Sugar rush Karen Schmidt

“For all the fanfare surrounding the unveiling of genome after genome, you could be forgiven for thinking that DNA and proteins are all there is to life.

But there is another code out there to be deciphered - a more subtle, more complex alphabet that spells out the structures of massive molecules that subtly monitor and guide the day-to-day lives of the cells in our bodies. And surprising though it may seem, the letters of this alphabet are made of sugar.

You may think of sugars as simple substances you use to sweeten your coffee. But simple sugars can be built into giant molecules called complex sugars that rival DNA and proteins in size and complexity.”

MIT Technology Review February 20

“The reason for the excitement around glycomics is that sugars have a vital, albeit often overlooked, function in the body. In particular, sugars play a critical role in stabilizing and determining the function of proteins through a process called glycosylation, in which sugar units are attached to other molecules including newly made proteins. “If you don’t have any glycosylation, you don’t have life,” says Paulson.”

(James Paulson – a researcher at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.)