Cell carbohydrate-containing

Many different types of carbohydrate-containing molecules are located on the surface of microbial cells. Some of these are components of die microbial cell wall and are limited to certain types of micro-organisms such as bacterial peptidoglycan, lipopolysaccharides, techoic adds and yeast mannans. Other polysaccharides are not... 

Bacterial cell walls contain peptidoglycan stmc-tures in which the carbohydrate chains are composed of alternating P1 4-linked A -acetylglucosamine and 0-lactyl-A -acetylglucosamine (also called... 

Polythiophenes functionalized with monosaccharides have been evaluated for their ability to detect the influenza virus and E. coli (Baek et al. 2000). Copolymers of thiophene acetic acid 10 and carbohydrate-modified thiophenes 11 have been prepared via iron(III) chloride mediated polymerization. Addition of influenza virus to a sialic acid containing copolymer resulted in a blue shift of the polymer absorption maximum, resulting in an orange to red chromatic transition. Mannose-containing polythiophenes underwent color changes upon the addition of the lectin ConA or E. coli cells that contain cell surface mannose-binding receptors. A similar biotinylated pol5hhiophene afforded a streptavidin responsive material (Paid and Leclerc 1996). 

In addition to their important roles as stored fuels (starch, glycogen, dextran) and as structural materials (cellulose, chitin, peptidoglycans), polysaccharides and oligosaccharides are information carriers they serve as destination labels for some proteins and as mediators of specific cell-cell interactions and interactions between cells and the extracellular matrix. Specific carbohydrate-containing molecules act in cell-cell recognition and... 

As already mentioned, formation of glycosidic linkages between monomeric units of the carbohydrate-containing polymers of the bacterial cell-surface is catalyzed by membrane-bound glycosyltransferases, and glycosyl nucleotides are the usual glycosyl donors in the reaction. 

In addition to their plasma membrane eukaryotic cells also contain internal membranes that define a variety of organelles (fig. 17.2). Each of these organelles is specialized for particular functions The nucleus synthesizes nucleic acids, mitochondria oxidize carbohydrates and lipids and make ATP, chloroplasts carry out photosynthesis, the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus synthesize and secrete proteins, and lysosomes digest proteins. Additional membranes divide mitochondria and chloroplasts into even finer, more specialized subcompartments. Like the plasma membrane, organellar membranes act as barriers to the leakage of proteins, metabolites, and ions they contain transport systems for import and export of materials, and they are the sites of enzymatic activities as diverse as cholesterol biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation. 

Selectins are a family of membrane glycoproteins that are divalent cation-dependent and bind to specific carbohydrates containing sialylated moieties. They are composed of leukocyte (L)-selectins, endothelial (E)-selectins and platelet (P)-selectins. L-selectins are expressed on most leukocytes, whereas vascular endothelial cells express E-selectins and P-selectins. Initial binding of leukocytes with vascular endothelium involves selectins and consequently they play an important role in leukocyte trafficking. 

Several laboratories have studied the assimilation of specific lysosomal enzymes using as model systems skin fibroblasts deficient in the enzyme under study. The underlying mechanism for the translocation of lysosomal enzymes was hypothesized to involve binding of carbohydrate-containing recognition markers to specific cell surface receptors (1 5). In support of this hypothesis Hickman, Shapiro, and Neufeld (16J found that treatment of N-acetyl-B-hexosaminidase with periodate under conditions that dTd not affect enzymatic activity prevented the efficient assimilation of this enzyme by Sandhoff fibroblasts. Additionally, Kresse and von Figura (1 7) found that treatment of f -acetyl-a-hexosaminidase with B-galactosidase reduced the assimilation of this enzyme by San-filippo B fibroblasts. 

In addition to the cerebrosides, which contain only one carbohydrate residue, there are other glycosphingolipids in mammalian cells that contain more than one sugar component. These oligosaccharide derivatives are called globosides. For example, lactosyl ceramide (1-O-lactosyl-A acylsphingosine) is a constituent of the erythrocyte membrane. Ceramide trihexoside accumulates in the kidneys of patients with Fabry s disease, due to the lack of a lysosomal a-galactosidase A activity. 

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