Vasta Gerardo R, Ahmed Hafiz, Odom Eric W
Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 701 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA.
Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2004 Oct;14(5):617-30. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2004.09.008.
During the past few years, substantial progress has been accomplished in the elucidation of the structural diversity of the lectin repertoires of invertebrates, protochordates and ectothermic vertebrates, providing particularly valuable information on those groups that constitute the invertebrate/vertebrate 'boundary'. Although representatives of lectin families typical of mammals, such as C-type lectins, galectins and pentraxins, have been described in these taxa, the detailed study of selected model species has yielded either novel variants of the structures described for the mammalian lectin representatives or novel lectin families with unique sequence motifs, multidomain arrangements and a new structural fold. Along with the high structural diversity of the lectin repertoires in these taxa, a wide spectrum of biological roles is starting to emerge, underscoring the value of invertebrate and lower vertebrate models for gaining insight into structural, functional and evolutionary aspects of lectins.
在过去几年中，在阐明无脊椎动物、原索动物和变温脊椎动物凝集素库的结构多样性方面取得了重大进展，为构成无脊椎动物/脊椎动物“边界”的那些类群提供了特别有价值的信息。尽管在这些分类群中已经描述了哺乳动物典型的凝集素家族的代表，如C型凝集素、半乳糖凝集素和五聚素，但对选定模式物种的详细研究要么产生了针对哺乳动物凝集素代表所描述结构的新变体，要么产生了具有独特序列基序、多结构域排列和新结构折叠的新凝集素家族。随着这些分类群中凝集素库的高度结构多样性，广泛的生物学作用开始显现，这突出了无脊椎动物和低等脊椎动物模型对于深入了解凝集素的结构、功能和进化方面的价值。
