Adhesion/growth-regulatory galectins: insights into their ligand selectivity using natural glycoproteins and glycotopes

Abstract

“Biochemistry text books commonly make it appear that it is a foregone conclusion that the hardware of biological information storage and transfer is confined to nucleotides and amino acids, the letters of the genetic code. However, the remarkable talents of a third class of biomolecules are often overlooked” [1]. This statement from a recent review guides the readers to look at and fully appreciate the chemical/lectinochemical characteristics of carbohydrates that underlie the concept of the sugar code [2].