Paucimannosidic glycans form the main component of the N-glycome of insects such as Drosophila melanogaster. Glycoprofiling of the venom component of the western honeybee, Apis mellifera, identified that paucimannosylation is a common modification of key proteins including hyaluronidase and phospholipase.
Insect cells lines are frequently utilised for recombinant expression of mammalian glycoproteins, which therefore are decorated with paucimannosidic glycans e.g. mouse interferon-β, human IgG and calf alkaline phosphatase.