text: Glycosyltransferases have been widely used in both the targeted synthesis of specific glycoconjugates as well as the synthesis of differentially glycosylated libraries of drugs, biological probes or natural products in the context of drug discovery and drug development (a process known as glycorandomization). Suitable enzymes can be isolated from natural sources or produced recombinantly. As an alternative, whole cell-based systems using either endogenous glycosyl donors or cell-based systems containing cloned and expressed systems for synthesis of glycosyl donors have been developed. In cell-free approaches, the large-scale application of glycosyltransferases for glycoconjugate synthesis has required access to large quantities of the glycosyl donors. On the flip-side, nucleotide recycling systems that allow the resynthesis of glycosyl donors from the released nucleotide have been developed. The nucleotide recycling approach has a further benefit of reducing the amount of nucleotide formed as a by-product, thereby reducing the amount of inhibition caused to the glycosyltransferase of interest – a commonly observed feature of the nucleotide byproduct.