肠道微生物群通过覆盖和保护胃肠道上皮的粘液与宿主相互作用。粘液的主要成分是粘蛋白，它们被装饰着数百种不同的O-糖基糖蛋白质。一些微生物群成员可以利用粘蛋白O-糖基作为碳源。为了降解这些宿主糖基，细菌表达多种酶（CAZymes）如糖苷水解酶、硫酸酶和酯酶，它们针对特定的连接作用。在体内环境下对这些酶的研究已经开始揭示它们在粘液利用和肠道定植中的重要性。现在清楚的是，细菌进化出了多个特异性CAZymes来克服O-糖基中发现的连接的多样性。此外，肠道微生物群对粘蛋白降解的变化与肥胖、糖尿病、肠易激综合征和结肠癌等疾病有关。因此，了解不同细菌的CAZymes如何工作以降解粘蛋白对于开发这些日益普遍的健康问题的新治疗和诊断至关重要。本综述介绍了粘蛋白O-糖基降解CAZymes的最新生化特征以及它们与人类健康的关系。© 2023作者。

The gut microbiota interacts with the host through the mucus that covers and protects the gastrointestinal epithelium. The main component of the mucus are mucins, glycoproteins decorated with hundreds of different O-glycans. Some microbiota members can utilize mucin O-glycans as carbons source. To degrade these host glycans the bacteria express multiple carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) such as glycoside hydrolases, sulfatases and esterases which are active on specific linkages. The studies of these enzymes in an in vivo context have started to reveal their importance in mucin utilization and gut colonization. It is now clear that bacteria evolved multiple specific CAZymes to overcome the diversity of linkages found in O-glycans. Additionally, changes in mucin degradation by gut microbiota have been associated with diseases like obesity, diabetes, irritable bowel disease and colorectal cancer. Thereby understanding how CAZymes from different bacteria work to degrade mucins is of critical importance to develop new treatments and diagnostics for these increasingly prevalent health problems. This mini-review covers the recent advances in biochemical characterization of mucin O-glycan-degrading CAZymes and how they are connected to human health.© 2023 The Author(s).