Furukawa K, Takamiya K, Okada M, Inoue M, Fukumoto S, Furukawa K
Department of Biochemistry II, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2001 Feb 16;1525(1-2):1-12. doi: 10.1016/s0304-4165(00)00185-9.
Complex carbohydrates consist of carbohydrate moieties and protein or lipid portions, resulting in the formation of glycoproteins, proteoglycans or glycosphingolipids. The polymorphic carbohydrate structures are believed to contain profound biological implications which are important in cell-cell or cell-extracellular matrix interactions. A number of studies to delineate the roles of carbohydrates have been performed, and demonstrated definite changes in their profiles, cellular phenotypic changes or, sometimes, morphological and functional changes in tissues after modification of their structures. Recent successes in the isolation of glycosyltransferase genes and their modification enzyme genes has enabled clearer demonstrations of the roles of complex carbohydrates. In particular, genetic modification of glycosyltransferase genes in mice can elucidate the biological significances of their products in vivo. Here, we summarize recent advances in the understanding of the roles of complex carbohydrates provided from studies of gene knock-out mice of glycosyltransferase and modification enzyme genes focusing on novel functions which had not been expected.
复合碳水化合物由碳水化合物部分以及蛋白质或脂质部分组成，从而形成糖蛋白、蛋白聚糖或糖鞘脂。多态性碳水化合物结构被认为具有深刻的生物学意义，这在细胞间或细胞与细胞外基质的相互作用中很重要。已经开展了许多旨在阐明碳水化合物作用的研究，并且在其结构改变后，证实了它们的谱、细胞表型变化，有时还有组织中的形态和功能变化存在明确改变。糖基转移酶基因及其修饰酶基因分离方面的近期成功，使得能够更清晰地证明复合碳水化合物的作用。特别是，对小鼠糖基转移酶基因进行基因改造，可以在体内阐明其产物的生物学意义。在此，我们总结了从糖基转移酶和修饰酶基因敲除小鼠的研究中获得的关于复合碳水化合物作用理解的近期进展，重点关注那些未曾预料到的新功能。
