This book presents state of the art biophysical approaches to issues in glycobiology that have cutting-edge applications. Despite the importance of glycosylation, the complexity, heterogeneity, and flexibility of the glycans have inhibited their study. Each chapter in this book explains very recent significant advances in biophysical approaches through the use of techniques such as NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, single-molecule imaging, X-ray crystallography, high-speed atomic force microscopy, and computational simulation and their integrative application. Concrete examples are provided of the value of these techniques in addressing key problems in the field. In addition, significant functional glycobiological issues are considered. For example, glycolipids can form dynamic clusters on cell membranes and provide platforms for molecules involved in cell recognition and subsequent signal transduction. The detailed delineation of these molecular systems is discussed, revealing their structural complexity and ability to assemble transiently. This timely book will be of value for graduate students and postdocs interested in frontier topics in glycoscience and also for senior bio-researchers in academic and industrial fields.

Preface.- Chapter 1: The effect of N-glycans on glycoprotein folding and protein dynamics.- Chapter 2: Synthesis of glycosylated metal complexes for probing carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions.- Chapter 3: Unraveling of lipid raft organization in cell plasma membranes by single-molecule imaging of ganglioside probes.- Chapter 4: MALDI mass spectrometry imaging of N-linked glycans in tissues.- Chapter 5: Modern-omics technologies for isobaric glycan and glycoconjugate structure determination.- Chapter 6: Synchrotron-radiation vacuum-ultraviolet circular-dichroism spectroscopy for characterizing the structure of saccharides.- Chapter 7: Biophysical analyses for probing glycan-protein interactions.- Chapter 8: Structural aspects of ER glycoprotein quality-control system mediated by glucose tagging.- Chapter 9: Structural basis of protein Asn-glycosylation by oligosaccharyltransferases.- Chapter 10: Visualization of functional structure and kinetic dynamics of cellulases.-Chapter 11: Structure and dynamics of immunoglobulin G glycoproteins.- Chapter 12: Biophysical Approaches to Solve the Structures of the Complex Glycan Shield of Chloroviruses.- Chapter 13: Quantifying weak glycan-protein interactions using a Biolayer Interferometry competition assay: Applications to ECL lectin and X-31 influenza hemagglutinin.