生物化学技术

Adhesion of bacteria to epithelial cells of the respiratory, gastric, and genitourinary mucosa is generally considered to be the initial step in the pathogenesis of many bacterial infections (1). Adhesion enables the bacteria to localize near a food source and to resist being washed away by the ...

The progression of AIDS all over the world has led research laboratories to focus their energy on the identification of molecules that can impair the infection process, Every step of the viral rephcative cycle can be considered as a potential target to block infection. One of the first events in the in ...

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the causative agent of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The polypeptide precursor gp160 of HIV-1 forms the external glycoprotein, gp120 and the transmembrane glycoprotein, gp41 (1). Sequence variability is a feature of HIV viruses t ...

The rapid scientific progress in the areas of gene technology and biotechnology has provided an increasing number of biologically active compounds, raising the hope that better cures will be available in the near future for a number of severe diseases. However, before such novel biopharma ...

Most mammalian cell surfaces are covered with a layer of oligosaccharides covalently linked to glycoproteins and glycolipids that form part of the surface structure, or “glycocalyx,” of the plasma membrane. In bacteria, the cells’ outer walls contain sugar-amino heteropolymers (pe ...

Glycoconjugates on cell surfaces are known to have important physiological and biological functions. The oligosaccharide components of the cell surface glycoconjugates are recognized as important mediators of cellular interaction and interaction of cells with ligands su ...

The carbohydrate-binding properties of plant and animal lectins have found many diverse applications in biomedical research that are comprehensively treated in the various chapters of this book. In our studies, lectins are often applied for the in situ detection of their respective bi ...

The existence of O-linked glycans in viral glycoproteins was described in the early 1980s for enveloped viruses such as herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), vaccinia virus, and mouse hepatitis virus (1-4). Glycoprotein C of HSV-1 (designated gC-1) was demonstrated to contain domains, in which nu ...

The envelope glycoprotein gp120 of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative agent of AIDS, contains approx 24 potential sites for N-glycosylation (Asn-X-Ser/Thr, X≠Pro) (1), all of which are utilized and constitute about 50% of the molecular mass (2). Binding of gp120 to the CD4 mole ...

The immunoglobulin G (IgG) molecule contains two biantennary complextype oligosaccharide chains, each linked to the heavy chain at asparagine 297 within the CH2 domain (1) (see Note 1). X-ray crystallographic analysis suggested that the sugar chains of IgG play a role in maintaining the 3D st ...

Human α-1-antitrypsin (α-1-anti-T), one of the most important serum protease inhibitors, is a glycoprotein of mol wt 51,000 (1-3).α-1-anti-T neutralizes the activity of enzymes such as elastase, trypsin, and chymotrypsin The molecule consists of a single polypepide chain of 394 amino acids, w ...

Quantification and characterization of glycoproteins may be achieved by lectin-affinity electrophoresis. Here we show the identification and quantification of three naturally occurring glycoforms of human serum α-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) or orosomucoid. The method desc ...

α-Fetoprotein (AFP) is an oncofetal glycoprotein with a molecular mass of 70,000 Dalton and a carbohydrate content of approx 4%, i.e., one carbohydrate chain per molecule. High concentrations of AFP are found in the fetal serum as well as in amniotic fluid. Serum concentration of AFP in cord blood at bir ...

ABO(H) blood group antigens are typical carbohydrate antigens widely expressed on erythrocytes, digestive tissue, respiratory tissue, and in secreted body fluids such as milk, urine, and saliva. These antigens are mostly distributed as glycolipids or glycoproteins (1,2) Recently, ...

Pancreatic cancer in the nonjaundiced patient can be difficult to diagnose, even with the aid of modern scanning techniques. Studies have shown that mucus glycoproteins (mucins) are frequently detectable in the serum of patients with pancreatic cancer (1,2), and these mucins may express a w ...

Human immunoglobulin A (IgA) is found in serum and secretions in several different forms (1), Serum IgA is produced by the bone marrow and is pre-dominately monomeric (M r = 160 kDa). Most of the IgA in secretions (sIgA) is polymeric, predominantly dimeric, comprising two monomer subunits linked tog ...

Intestinal mucins are glycoproteins containing a very high proportion of carbohydrate, up to 90%, and they can occur either in a membrane-bound or a soluble form (1). The general structure of these molecules includes discrete C-terminal and N-terminal regions, which are relatively poorly g ...

The antigen receptor expressed on most T-lymphocytes (T-cell antigen receptor ) is a multisubunit complex consisting of at least six different polypeptides (α, β, γ, δ, ɛ, and ζ), several of which are modified by addition of N-linked oligosaccharide chains Oligosaccharide side chains on TCR gly ...

The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV-1 and HIV-2) are the etiologic agents of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and related disorders (1-3) Simian immunodeficiency virus(SIV) is the corresponding virus for nonhuman primates. SIVmac has been isolated from rhesus m ...

Because of their unique carbohydrate binding characteristics, lectins serve as invaluable tools in biological and medical research; separation and characterization of glycoproteins and glycopeptides, histochemistry of cells and tissues, and the study of cell differentia ...