Glycation is a non-enzymatic post-translational modification (PTM) that is correlated with many diseases, including diabetes, cancer and age-related disorders. Although recent work points to the importance of glycation as a functional PTM, it remains an open question whether glycation has a causal role in cellular signaling and/or disease development. In this Review, we contextualize glycation as a specific mechanism of carbon stress and consolidate what is known about advanced glycation end-product (AGE) structures and mechanisms. We highlight the current understanding of glycation as a PTM, focusing on mechanisms for installing, removing or recognizing AGEs. Finally, we discuss challenges that have hampered a more complete understanding of the biological consequences of glycation. The development of tools for predicting, modulating, mimicking or capturing glycation will be essential for interpreting a post-translational glycation network. Therefore, continued insights into the chemistry of glycation will be necessary to advance understanding of glycation biology.

糖化是一种非酶促翻译后修饰 (PTM)，与许多疾病相关，包括糖尿病、癌症和年龄相关疾病。尽管最近的工作指出了糖化作为功能性 PTM 的重要性，但糖化是否在细胞信号传导和/或疾病发展中具有因果作用仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。在这篇综述中，我们将糖化作为碳应激的一种特定机制，并巩固了对高级糖化终产物（AGE）结构和机制的了解。我们强调目前对糖化作为 PTM 的理解，重点关注安装、去除或识别 AGE 的机制。最后，我们讨论了阻碍更全面理解糖化生物学后果的挑战。开发用于预测、调节、模拟或捕获糖化的工具对于解释翻译后糖化网络至关重要。因此，继续深入了解糖化化学对于增进对糖化生物学的理解是必要的。