Oligosaccharides biological roles

The important role saccharides play in biology, especially in recognition processes, led researchers to work on the development of multivalent so-called neo-glycoconjugates the numerous biological roles of cell surface oligosaccharides... 

A. Varki, Biological roles of oligosaccharides All of the theories are correct,... 

A review of applications of chemical synthesis of carbohydrates to an understanding of the biological roles of oligosaccharides. 

K. Bock and C. and H, Pedersen extend the article in Vol. 41 by the first two authors, on the 13C-n.m.r. spectroscopy of monosaccharides, to a compilation of such data for oligosaccharides that should prove of great value as a source of reference. K. Antonakis (Villejuif, France) presents a discussion of ketonucleosides, compounds of interest in synthesis and in biological roles they have not hitherto been comprehensively examined in this Series. 

A. Varki, Biological roles of oligosaccharides all of the theories are correct, Gtycobiology 3 97, (1993) H. Lis and N. Sharon, Protein glycosylation-structural and functional aspects, Eur. J. Biochem. 218 1, (1993) and references therein. 

Biological Functions of Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides. Polysaccharides serve two important biological roles. Glycogen and starch are polymers of glucose units linked in a(l —> 4) linkages that serve as carbohydrate reserves for animals, bacteria, and plants. Because these polymers are readily converted to intermediates for pathways that yield metabolic energy, they can also be... 

Varki, A. (1993). Biological Roles of Oligosaccharides All of the Theories Are Correct. Glycobiology 3 97. 

The chemical diversity of glycosyltransferase reaction products is also reflected in their numerous biological roles (28). They serve as sources of energy exemplified by sucrose, lactose, and amylose (Fig. 1). They are also stmctural elements in cell walls and extracellular matrices. Oligosaccharides found on glycoproteins and glycolipids can be involved directly in the stmcture... 

Lipopolysaccharide core structures are, as mentioned, phosphorylated. The phosphate groups complicate the separation and purification and consequently the structure elucidation of core structures, and these were therefore formerly often performed on dephosphorylated material. However, with the techniques of today it is generally possible also to establish the phosphorylation pattern of the native structures, giving an additional challenge to the synthetic chemist to synthesise phosphorylated oligosaccharide structures to be used as tools in the evaluation of the biological role of the phosphate groups. 

---