Structural and functional diversity of lectin repertoires in invertebrates, protochordates and ectothermic vertebrates.
During the past few years, substantial progress has been accomplished in the elucidation of the structural diversity of the lectin repertoires of invertebrates, protochordates and ectothermic vertebrates, providing particularly valuable information on those groups that constitute the invertebrate/vertebrate 'boundary'. Although representatives of lectin families typical of mammals, such as C-type lectins, galectins and pentraxins, have been described in these taxa, the detailed study of selected model species has yielded either novel variants of the structures described for the mammalian lectin representatives or novel lectin families with unique sequence motifs, multidomain arrangements and a new structural fold. Along with the high structural diversity of the lectin repertoires in these taxa, a wide spectrum of biological roles is starting to emerge, underscoring the value of invertebrate and lower vertebrate models for gaining insight into structural, functional and evolutionary aspects of lectins.
Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 701 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. vasta@umbi.umd.edu
Gerardo R
GR
Vasta
Hafiz
H
Ahmed
Eric W
EW
Odom
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D043344:Chordata; D007448:Invertebrates; D037102:Lectins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014714:Vertebrates
D037102:Lectins