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Carbohydrate microarrays
Author(s) -
Wang Deg
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
proteomics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.26
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1615-9861
pISSN - 1615-9853
DOI - 10.1002/pmic.200300601
Subject(s) - glycoconjugate , dna microarray , computational biology , carbohydrate , gene chip analysis , microarray , biology , biochemistry , gene , gene expression
Sugar chains are abundantly expressed on the outer surfaces of the vast majority of viral, bacterial, protozoan and fungal pathogens, as well as on the membranes of mammalian cells. This class of carbohydrate molecule is without peer in structural diversity and is characteristically suitable for storing and displaying biological signals for molecular and cellular recognition. Exploring the biological information contained in sugar chains is an important topic of current postgenomic research. To facilitate these investigations, we have focused on the establishment of a carbohydrate‐based microarray technology. Recently, we reported that a large panel of carbohydrate‐containing macromolecules, including polysaccharides, natural glycoconjugates, and the mono‐ and oligosaccharides coupled to carrier molecules, can be stably immobilized on a microglass slide to produce a large‐scale carbohydrate microarray. In this review, we attempt to summarize our recent progress in using this technology to uncover the carbohydrate‐based biological signals that are recognized by the human and animal immune systems. We also discuss the potential of various platforms of carbohydrate microarrays that were recently established and analyze the challenges to future development of carbohydrate microarray technologies and their applications.