Analysis of Protein — Carbohydrate Interactions by FACE/Gel Retardation Assay

Abstract

Binding of carbohydrates to proteins is an important feature of a wide variety of biological systems that often has physiological and pathological significance. For example, interactions between lectins and carbohydrates are critical for the initiation of viral, bacterial, mycoplasmal, and parasitic infections; cell-cell adhesion; fertilization and development; cell proliferation and metastasis (1). Binding of selectins, a class of carbohydrate-binding proteins located on the endothelial cell surface, to leukocyte carbohydrates has been demonstrated to be an essential step in the trafficking and recruitment of leukocytes to injured tissues (2). Moreover, cellular receptors for many growth factors are glycoproteins, and the carbohydrate moieties participate in binding and signal transduction to the cells.