title: A lectin from the Chinese bird-hunting spider binds sialic acids.
abstract: The affinity to sialic acid-containing oligosaccharides of the small-animal lectin SHL-I isolated from the venom of the Chinese bird-hunting spider Selenocosmia huwena is here described for the first time. By a strategic combination of NMR techniques, molecular modeling, and data mining tools it was possible to identify the crucial amino acid residues that are responsible for SHL-I's ability to bind sialic acid residues in a specific way. Furthermore, we are able to discuss the role of the functional groups of sialic acid when bound to SHL-I. Also the impact of Pro31 in its cis- or trans-form on SHL-I's ligand affinity is of special interest, since it answers the question if Trp32 is a crucial amino acid for stabilizing complexes between SHL-I and sialic acid. SHL-I can be considered as a proper model system that provides further insights into the binding mechanisms of small-animal lectins to sialic acid on a sub-molecular level.
authors: Institut für Biochemie und Endokrinologie, Fachbereich für Veterinärmedizin, Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen, Frankfurter Strasse 100, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
authors: Hans-Christian
authors: HC
authors: Siebert
authors: Shan-Yun
authors: SY
authors: Lu
authors: Rainer
authors: R
authors: Wechselberger
authors: Karin
authors: K
authors: Born
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Eckert
authors: Songping
authors: S
authors: Liang
authors: Claus-Wilhelm
authors: CW
authors: von der Lieth
authors: Jesús
authors: J
authors: Jiménez-Barbero
authors: Roland
authors: R
authors: Schauer
authors: Johannes F G
authors: JF
authors: Vliegenthart
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Lütteke
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: André
authors: Herbert
authors: H
authors: Kaltner
authors: Hans-Joachim
authors: HJ
authors: Gabius
authors: Tibor
authors: T
authors: Kozár
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D037102:Lectins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012794:Sialic Acids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013111:Spider Venoms / Q000378:metabolism; D013112:Spiders / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins; D012794:Sialic Acids; D013111:Spider Venoms