The sugar code. Many proteins in the human body undergo post-translational modification. A common mechanism to modify the function of proteins is a process called glycosylation, the adding of carbohydrate residues to protein. Glycosylation is probably the most complex post-translational modification, critically important to various physiological functions and therefore tightly regulated in cells. Accordingly, genetic disorders that interfere with glycosylation may present as severe, multisystem disorders. However, it is increasingly recognized that many congenital disorders of glycosylation have an exclusively neurological phenotype. Here is an update on ALG13 epileptic encephalopathy, a recently identified disease entity that may account for up to 2% of Infantile Spasms in females. Continue reading →