The oligosaccharides Man4 and Man5, substructures of the high-mannose glycans of HIV glycoprotein gp120, were synthesized with a terminal 1-thiomannopyranose residue. The anomeric thiol can be readily converted to an azidomethyl aglycone through reaction with dichloromethane and displacement with sodium azide. The resulting oligomannans were then conjugated to ubiquitin utilizing thiol alkylati...

Mass spectrometry is currently one of the most versatile and sensitive instrumental methods applied to structural characterization of plant secondary metabolite mixtures isolated from biological material including flavonoid glycoconjugates. Resolution of the applied mass spectrometers plays an important role in structural studies of mixtures of the target compounds isolated from biological mate...

The activity of haemagglutinins in plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum was measured under different culture conditions. The activity was markedly increased when the plasmodia were incubated in a non-nutrient salt medium. During starvation, significant amounts of haemagglutinins were found in the slime layer on the surface of the plasmodia. An increase in activity was not observed in the presence...

In this review, we will discuss the enzymes that are involved in the synthesis and degradation of glycoconjugates and we will give an overview of the inhibitors and activity-based probes (ABPs) that have been used to study these. Following discussion of some general aspects of the biosynthesis and degradation of N-linked glycoproteins, attention is focused on the enzymes that hydrolyze the prot...

The distribution of glycoconjugates in the chicken mandibular gland was studied by means of light microscopic histochemical methods. The staining procedures employed were horseradish peroxidase conjugated lectin, Alcian blue pH 2.5-periodic acid-Schiff (AB pH 2.5-PAS), and high iron diamine-alcian blue pH 2.5 (HID-AB pH 2.5). The lectins used in the present study were Concanavalin A (Con A), Ri...

Nine biotinylated lectins were used as histochemical probes to localize the carbohydrates residues of glycoconjugates in normal corneas and in corneas with macular and granular dystrophy. The lectin binding patterns of normal corneas and of corneas with granular dystrophy were indistinguishable from one another, but were distinctly different from those found in corneas with macular dystrophy. C...

The distribution and selectivity of complex carbohydrates in the eccrine glands of the digital pads in the North American raccoon (Procyon lotor) were studied using light and electron microscopic histochemical methods, particularly lectin histochemistry. In the eccrine glands, the dark cells exhibited neutral and acidic glycoconjugates with different saccharide residues (alpha-L-fucose, beta-D-...

The CFTR gene encodes a transmembrane conductance regulator, which is dysfunctional in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The mechanism by which defective CFTR (CF transmembrane conductance regulator) leads to undersialylation of plasma membrane glycoconjugates, which in turn promote lung pathology and colonization with Pseudomonas aeruginosa causing lethal bacterial infections in CF, is not k...

It is well known that tumor cells express some aberrant glycans, termed tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs). TACAs are good targets for the development of carbohydrate-based anticancer vaccines. However, one of the major problems is that carbohydrate antigens possess a weak immunogenicity. To tackle this problem, a number of unnatural N-modified S-linked STn analogues were designed a...