Extracellular modulation of phenotype is an emerging paradigm in this current postgenomics age of molecular and cell biology. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are primary components of the cell surface and the cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interface. Advances in the technology to analyze GAGs and in whole-organism genetics have led to a dramatic increase in the known important biological role of these complex polysaccharides. Owing to their ubiquitous distribution at the cell-ECM interface, GAGs interact with numerous proteins and modulate their activity, thus impinging on fundamental biological processes such as cell growth and development. Many recent reviews have captured important aspects of GAG structure and biosynthesis, GAG-protein interactions, and GAG biology. GAG research is currently at a stage where there is a need for an integrated systems or glycomics approach, which involves an integration of all of the above concepts to define their structure-function relationships. Focusing on heparin/heparan (HSGAGs) and chondroitin/dermatan sulfate (CSGAGs), this review highlights the important aspects of GAGs and summarizes these aspects in the context of taking a glycomics approach that integrates the different technologies to define structure-function relationships of GAGs.

中文翻译：

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糖化学方法解决糖胺聚糖的结构-功能关系。

在当前分子和细胞生物学的后基因组学时代，表型的细胞外调节是新兴的范式。糖胺聚糖（GAG）是细胞表面和细胞-细胞外基质（ECM）界面的主要成分。分析GAG的技术和整个有机体遗传学的进步导致这些复杂多糖的已知重要生物学作用急剧增加。由于其在细胞-ECM界面上的普遍分布，GAG与许多蛋白质相互作用并调节其活性，从而影响了细胞生长和发育等基本生物学过程。最近的许多评论都捕获了GAG结构和生物合成，GAG-蛋白质相互作用以及GAG生物学的重要方面。GAG研究目前处于需要集成系统或糖组学方法的阶段，该方法涉及对所有上述概念的集成以定义它们的结构-功能关系。本文以肝素/乙酰肝素（HSGAGs）和软骨素/硫酸皮肤素（CSGAGs）为重点，重点介绍了GAG的重要方面，并在采用糖组学方法的背景下总结了这些方面，该方法整合了不同技术来定义GAG的结构-功能关系。