Glycobiology Advance Access originally published online on June 30, 2004
Glycobiology 2004 14(11):53R-62R; doi:10.1093/glycob/cwh122
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Glycobiology vol. 14 no. 11 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved.
REVIEW |
History of lectins: from hemagglutinins to biological recognition molecules
Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Received on November 25, 2003; revised on June 28, 2004; accepted on June 28, 2004
The occurrence in nature of erythrocyte-agglutinating proteins has been known since the turn of the 19th century. By the 1960s it became apparent that such proteins also agglutinate other types of cells, and that many of them are sugar-specific. These cell-agglutinating and sugar-specific proteins have been named lectins. Although shown to occur widely in plants and to some extent also in invertebrates, very few lectins had been isolated until the early 1970s, and they had attracted little attention. This attitude changed with the demonstration that lectins are extremely useful tools for the investigation of carbohydrates on cell surfaces, in particular of the changes that the latter undergo in malignancy, as well as for the isolation and characterization of glycoproteins. In subsequent years numerous lectins have been isolated from plants as well as from microorganisms and animals, and during the past two decades the structures of hundreds of them have been established. Concurrently, it was shown that lectins function as recognition molecules in cell–molecule and cell–cell interactions in a variety of biological systems. Here we present a brief account of 100-plus years of lectin research and show how these proteins have become the focus of intense interest for biologists and in particular for the glycobiologists among them.
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; e-mail nathan.sharon{at}weizmann.ac.il
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  H. Tateno, A. Mori, N. Uchiyama, R. Yabe, J. Iwaki, T. Shikanai, T. Angata, H. Narimatsu, and J. Hirabayashi Glycoconjugate microarray based on an evanescent-field fluorescence-assisted detection principle for investigation of glycan-binding proteins Glycobiology, October 1, 2008; 18(10): 789 - 798. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Steiner, R. Novotny, D. B. Werz, K. Zarschler, P. H. Seeberger, A. Hofinger, P. Kosma, C. Schaffer, and P. Messner Molecular Basis of S-layer Glycoprotein Glycan Biosynthesis in Geobacillus stearothermophilus J. Biol. Chem., July 25, 2008; 283(30): 21120 - 21133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. Tateno, N. Uchiyama, A. Kuno, A. Togayachi, T. Sato, H. Narimatsu, and J. Hirabayashi A novel strategy for mammalian cell surface glycome profiling using lectin microarray Glycobiology, October 1, 2007; 17(10): 1138 - 1146. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. Lannoo, G. Vandenborre, O. Miersch, G. Smagghe, C. Wasternack, W. J. Peumans, and E. J. M. Van Damme The Jasmonate-Induced Expression of the Nicotiana tabacum Leaf Lectin Plant Cell Physiol., August 1, 2007; 48(8): 1207 - 1218. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. D. Hernandez, J. Klein, S. J. Van Dyken, J. D. Marth, and L. G. Baum T-cell activation results in microheterogeneous changes in glycosylation of CD45 Int. Immunol., July 2, 2007; (2007) dxm053v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Baba, B. Yong Ma, M. Nonaka, Y. Matsuishi, M. Hirano, N. Nakamura, N. Kawasaki, N. Kawasaki, and T. Kawasaki Glycosylation-dependent interaction of Jacalin with CD45 induces T lymphocyte activation and Th1/Th2 cytokine secretion J. Leukoc. Biol., April 1, 2007; 81(4): 1002 - 1011. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Sharon Lectins: Carbohydrate-specific Reagents and Biological Recognition Molecules J. Biol. Chem., February 2, 2007; 282(5): 2753 - 2764. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. R. Drake, E. E. Schwegler, G. Malik, J. Diaz, T. Block, A. Mehta, and O. J. Semmes Lectin Capture Strategies Combined with Mass Spectrometry for the Discovery of Serum Glycoprotein Biomarkers Mol. Cell. Proteomics, October 1, 2006; 5(10): 1957 - 1967. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. L. Meagher, H. C. Winter, P. Ezell, I. J. Goldstein, and J. A. Stuckey Crystal structure of banana lectin reveals a novel second sugar binding site Glycobiology, October 1, 2005; 15(10): 1033 - 1042. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|