title: The conformation and structure of GAGs: recent progress and perspectives.
abstract: The glycosaminoglycan (GAG) family of linear sulphated polysaccharides are involved in most regulatory processes in the extracellular matrix of higher organisms. The relationship between GAG substitution pattern and activity, however, remains unclear and experimental evidence suggests that subtle conformational factors play an important role. The difficulty of modelling these complex charged molecules shifts the burden of investigation towards experimental techniques. Recent advances in complementary physical-chemical, particularly spectroscopy-based approaches are reviewed, together with methods for analysing the resulting complex data. The prospects for combining some of these approaches and fitting them into the wider context of interactions, are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK.
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Rudd
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Skidmore
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guerrini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hricovini
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Siligardi
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Yates
mesh_terms: D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D019295:Computational Biology; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D006025:Glycosaminoglycans