Carbohydrates water-mediated hydrogen bonds

The precise chemical interactions between an adhesin and its receptor are also important. For example, direct- and water-mediated hydrogen bonds are the most important interactions within the carbohydrate-recognition domain in carbohydrate-binding adhesins on the host cell surface (Weis and Drickamer, 1996). Nonpolar van der Waals interactions and hydrophobic "stacking of the receptor oligosaccharide rings with aromatic amino acid side chains of the bacterial adhesin protein also contribute to oligosaccharide-protein interactions. X-ray structural... 

The ability of water to act as both donor and acceptor of hydrogen bonds makes it an excellent mediator in protein-carbohydrate complexes. Results of numerous X-ray crystallographic studies of protein-carbohydrate complexes attest to the pervasiveness of water-mediated hydrogen bonds in protein-carbohydrate interactions. Lectin-bound water molecules are proposed to act as an extension of the protein surface itself [1]. This idea is supported by the fact that water molecules occupy conserved sites in the structures of related lectins [24]. In addition, water molecules can mediate similar hydrogen bonding interactions in the complexes of different proteins with a specific carbohydrate ligand or in complexes of the same lectin with different saccharide ligands [1]. 

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