Abstract: Abundant results on glycobiology were achieved in animal and microbe research fields after the glycobiology theory was proposed in 1988, but little progress was made in plants. Furthermore, few systematic monographs or reviews have focused on plant glycobiology. In this paper, we promote the concept of plant glycobiology, which concentrates on the plant-saccharide interaction mechanism, as well as the structure and biology function of saccharides (sugar chains or glycans). We review our results and those of others, especially the latest progress, on several aspects of plant glycobiology such as sugar signaling under normal development and stress conditions, plant glycoproteins and glycans, and plant glycosyltransferases and lectins.

Key words: glycoprotein, glycosyltransferase, lectin, plant glycobiology, sugar signaling