Research progress in understanding the structure, mechanism, and engineering of plant glycosyltransferases

Glycosyltransferases (GTs) are found in a wide variety of organisms, where they are involved in maintaining cell metabolism through glycosylation reactions. Glycosyltransferases transfer activated sugar from donor molecules to a variety of acceptors, this can alter the hydrophilic properties, stability, and chemical properties as well as subcellular location and biological activity of the acceptors. Many compounds that are modified by glycosylation are important sources of drug molecules. However, natural products contain only small amounts of glycosylated compounds, and it is very difficult to extract and purify these compounds. Furthermore, during the chemical synthesis of glycosylated compounds, the raw material reagents and generated by-products tend to cause environmental pollution, and it is not possible to achieve glycosylation at the particular acceptor sites. Recently, GTs have garnered interest among researchers. Therefore, here we review the current structural studies and biotechnological applications of plant GTs that would provide useful information for glycosylation engineering and bioactive glycoside production.