Abstract
This review focuses on glycosides that act as metabolic decoys and inhibitors of glycosylation. These compounds resemble metabolic intermediates and act as primers of glycan biosynthesis, diverting the synthesis of sugar chains from endogenous glycoconjugates. Thus, glycosides inhibit glycoconjugate formation and provide a tool for studying glycan function in cells and whole organisms. Such primers may have future therapeutic potential through their ability to alter glycan-dependent pathologic processes in several disease states.
