Ever wondered how #glycan chains are synthesised in #EukaryoticCells?



It’s just like building #Lego models step by step!

Read more about @thattai & @anjali_jaiman’s incredible journey to deduce the details of this process:

https://theory.ncbs.res.in/news/building-biomolecules-one-step-time

#AlgorithmicSynthesis

Cellular #enzymes, like those responsible for building glycans, are sloppy & make mistakes frequently!

Despite this, only a small range of glycan chains are found to be associated with a specific #protein!

How is the #variability of glycan chains so tightly-controlled in cells?

In their recent @eLife paper, @thattai & @anjali_jaiman answer this question using careful #mathematical reasoning!

They show that partitioning these sloppy enzymes across multiple compartments of the #Golgi is key to controlling the assembly of glycans. http://elifesciences.org/articles/49573 

The study shows that multi-compartment synthesis can greatly increase the range of glycan chains a cell can specifically produce!

Read more about their journey in this piece by @SiddhrthKnkaria, with illustrations by @dhanya_bharath!

#SciComm #SciArt

https://theory.ncbs.res.in/news/building-biomolecules-one-step-time

Read more about their study,

"Golgi compartments enable controlled biomolecular assembly using promiscuous enzymes"

in this thread by Dr. Mukund Thattai: https://twitter.com/thattai/status/1277588401152114689