STRUCTURAL BASIS OF LECTIN-CARBOHYDRATE RECOGNITION

Lectins are responsible for cell surface sugar recognition in bacteria , animals, and plants. Examples include bacterial toxins; animal recep tors that mediate cell-cell interactions, uptake of glycoconjugates, a nd pathogen neutralization; and plant toxins and mitogens. The structu ral basis for selective sugar recognition by members of all of these g roups has been investigated by x-ray crystallography. Mechanisms for s ugar recognition have evolved independently in diverse protein structu ral frameworks, but share some key features. Relatively low affinity b inding sites for monosaccharides are formed at shallow indentations on protein surfaces. Selectivity is achieved through a combination of hy drogen bonding to the sugar hydroxyl groups with van der Waals packing , often including packing of a hydrophobic sugar face against aromatic amino acid side chains. Higher selectivity of binding is achieved by extending binding sites through additional direct and water-mediated c ontacts between oligosaccharides and the protein surface. Dramatically increased affinity for oligosaccharides results from clustering of si mple binding sites in oligomers of the lectin polypeptides. The geomet ry of such oligomers helps to establish the ability of the lectins to distinguish surface arrays of polysaccharides in some instances and to crosslink glycoconjugates in others.