A guide into glycosciences: How chemistry, biochemistry and biology cooperate to crack the sugar code

The most demanding challenge in research on molecular aspects within the flow of biological information is posed by the complex carbohydrates (glycan part of cellular glycoconjugates). How the ‘message’ encoded in carbohydrate ‘letters’ is ‘read’ and ‘translated’ can only be unraveled by interdiscip...

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Veröffentlicht in:Biochimica et biophysica acta Jg. 1850; H. 1; S. 186 - 235
Hauptverfasser: Solís, Dolores, Bovin, Nicolai V., Davis, Anthony P., Jiménez-Barbero, Jesús, Romero, Antonio, Roy, René, Smetana, Karel, Gabius, Hans-Joachim
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.01.2015
Schlagworte:
Carbohydrate Conformation
Carbohydrate Sequence
Carbohydrates - chemistry
Conformer
Crystallography
Dendrimer
Glycan
glycoproteins
Glycoproteins - chemistry
Lectin
lectins
ligands
Models, Molecular
Molecular Sequence Data
Neoglycoconjugate
oligosaccharides
Oligosaccharides - chemistry
polysaccharides
Polysaccharides - chemistry
Protein Conformation
receptors
rendering
structure-activity relationships
surveys
synthesis
Lectin
Dendrimer
Conformer
Crystallography
Glycan
Neoglycoconjugate
ISSN:0304-4165, 0006-3002, 1872-8006
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Zusammenfassung:The most demanding challenge in research on molecular aspects within the flow of biological information is posed by the complex carbohydrates (glycan part of cellular glycoconjugates). How the ‘message’ encoded in carbohydrate ‘letters’ is ‘read’ and ‘translated’ can only be unraveled by interdisciplinary efforts. This review provides a didactic step-by-step survey of the concept of the sugar code and the way strategic combination of experimental approaches characterizes structure–function relationships, with resources for teaching. The unsurpassed coding capacity of glycans is an ideal platform for generating a broad range of molecular ‘messages’. Structural and functional analyses of complex carbohydrates have been made possible by advances in chemical synthesis, rendering production of oligosaccharides, glycoclusters and neoglycoconjugates possible. This availability facilitates to test the glycans as ligands for natural sugar receptors (lectins). Their interaction is a means to turn sugar-encoded information into cellular effects. Glycan/lectin structures and their spatial modes of presentation underlie the exquisite specificity of the endogenous lectins in counterreceptor selection, that is, to home in on certain cellular glycoproteins or glycolipids. Understanding how sugar-encoded ‘messages’ are ‘read’ and ‘translated’ by lectins provides insights into fundamental mechanisms of life, with potential for medical applications. •The inherently interdisciplinary character of glycosciences is explained on an educational level.•Lectin structure and functionality are presented from synthetic receptors to clinically relevant human proteins.•Methods to study protein–glycan interactions are presented in a problem-oriented manner.
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ISSN:0304-4165
0006-3002
1872-8006
DOI:10.1016/j.bbagen.2014.03.016