Attachment of viruses to cell-surface receptors is the initial step in infection. Many mammalian viruses have evolved to recognize receptors that are glycans on cell-surface glycoproteins or glycolipids. Although glycans are a ubiquitous component of mammalian cells, the types of terminal structures expressed vary among different cell-types and tissues, and even between comparable cells and tissues from different species, frequently leading to specific tissue and species tropisms as a direct consequence of glycan receptor recognition. Covering the majority of known virus families, this review provides an overview of mammalian viruses that use glycans as receptors, and their roles in determining in host recognition and tropism.

病毒附着于细胞表面受体是感染的第一步。许多哺乳动物病毒已经进化为识别受体，这些受体是细胞表面糖蛋白或糖脂上的聚糖。尽管聚糖是哺乳动物细胞中普遍存在的成分，但表达的末端结构类型在不同的细胞类型和组织之间有所不同，甚至在来自不同物种的可比细胞和组织之间也不同，经常导致特定的组织和物种向性作为聚糖的直接结果受体识别。这篇综述涵盖了大多数已知病毒家族，概述了使用聚糖作为受体的哺乳动物病毒，以及它们在确定宿主识别和向性方面的作用。