Fig. 3.

General classification of the biological roles of glycans. A simplified and broad classification is presented, especially emphasizing the roles of organism-intrinsic and organism-extrinsic glycan-binding proteins in recognizing glycans. There is some overlap between the categories, e.g., some structural properties involve specific recognition of glycans. Binding shown on the left of the central “self” cell represents intrinsic recognition, and extrinsic recognition is represented by binding shown to the right of that cell. Molecular mimicry of host glycans adds further complexity to potential roles. Original drawing by R. Cummings, updated from ref. 160 with permission from the Consortium of Glycobiology Editors.