Capillary Electrophoresis of Carbohydrates Paperback / softback

Edited by Pierre Thibault, Susumu Honda

Part of the Methods in Molecular Biology series

Paperback / softback

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Description

Glycoconjugates such as glycoproteins and glycolipids play important roles in cell-cell interaction events, including development, differentiation, m- phogenesis, fertilization, inflammation, and metastasis.

A number of reports have documented the association of unique oligosaccharide sequences to p- tein targeting and folding, and in mechanisms of infection, inflammation, and immunity.

For glycoproteins, these glycan appendages are the result of extensive co- or post-translational modifications of the nascent proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum and in the Golgi apparatus.

Although nucleic acids and proteins are copied from a template in a repeated series of identical steps using the same enzymes, complex carbohydrates are formed by the sequential actions of cellular glycosyltransferases that specifically recognize unique s- strates.

The molecular biology of these transferases and other carbohydra- modifying enzymes is providing important insights on oligosaccharide recognition events. While it is acknowledged that the definition of the protein complement of cells and tissues (the so-called proteome) remains an enormous task in this postgenomic era, the characterization of all glycans produced by individual organisms (referred to as the glycome) presents an equally imp- tant challenge.

This task is further complicated by the fact that oligosacc- rides cannot presently be cloned.

These complex carbohydrates exist in a staggering diversity of structures, linkages, and branching, thus providing an exquisite molecular repertoire for cellular interactions.