title: Lectins: tools for the molecular understanding of the glycocode.
abstract: Recent progress in glycobiology has revealed that cell surface oligosaccharides play an essential role in recognition events. More precisely, these saccharides may be complexed by lectins, carbohydrate-binding proteins other than enzymes and antibodies, able to recognise sugars in a highly specific manner. The ubiquity of lectin-carbohydrate interactions opens enormous potential for their exploitation in medicine. Therefore, extraordinary effort is made into the identification of new lectins as well as into the achievement of a deep understanding of their functions and of the precise mechanism of their association with specific ligands. In this review, a summary of the main features of lectins, particularly those found in legumes, will be presented with a focus on the mechanism of carbohydrate-binding. An overview of lectin-carbohydrate interactions will also be given, together with an insight into their energetics. In addition, therapeutic applications of lectins will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, UKDH1 3LE.
authors.forename: Moira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ambrosi
authors.forename: Neil R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Benjamin G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000737:chemistry; D037102:Lectins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D037102:Lectins