Carbohydrate galectins

Figure 13.2 The crystal structures of (a) concanavalin A and (b) the carbohydrate recognition domain of galectin-3. Residues in the carbohydrate binding sites are black.

Figure 13.3 A schematic summary of the galectins. (a) Galectins with one carbohydratebinding domain and (b) their noncovalent dimers, (c) Galectin-3 has a collagen-like domain and a carbohydrate-binding domain, (d) Galectins with two covalently hnked carbohydratebinding domains.

Seetharaman J, Kanigsberg A, Slaaby R, Leffler H, Barondes SH, Rini JM. X-ray crystal structure of the human galectin-3 carbohydrate recognition domain at 2.1 A resolution. J Biol Chem 1998 273 13047-13052. 

A number of carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) of animal lectins are known to exist as clusters. ASGP-Rs exist as bundle of hexamers, mannose 6-phosphate receptor and galectin-3 are known as dimers, while mannose binding proteins and receptors form multiple CRDs [31]. 

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