Carbohydrate microarrays: key developments in glycobiology

Biol Chem. 2009 Jul;390(7):647-56. doi: 10.1515/BC.2009.071.

Abstract

Carbohydrate chains of glycoproteins, glycolipids, proteoglycans, and polysaccharides mediate processes of biological and medical importance through their interactions with complementary proteins. The unraveling of these interactions is therefore a priority in biomedical sciences. Carbohydrate microarray technology is a new development at the frontier of glycomics that is revolutionizing the study of carbohydrate-protein interactions and the elucidation of their specificities in endogenous biological processes, microbe-host interactions, and immune defense mechanisms. In this review, we briefly refer to the principles of numerous platforms since the introduction of carbohydrate microarrays in 2002, and we highlight platforms that are beyond proof-of-concept and have provided new biological information.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carbohydrate Metabolism
  • Carbohydrate Sequence
  • Carbohydrates / analysis*
  • Carbohydrates / chemistry
  • Glycolipids / metabolism
  • Glycomics / methods*
  • Humans
  • Microarray Analysis / methods*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oligosaccharides / chemical synthesis
  • Oligosaccharides / chemistry
  • Oligosaccharides / metabolism

Substances

  • Carbohydrates
  • Glycolipids
  • Oligosaccharides