Molecular Glycobiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakaecho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0015, Japan.
J Biochem. 2010 Jan;147(1):9-17. doi: 10.1093/jb/mvp193.
Akira Kobata is a pioneer of the glycobiology of N-linked sugar chains. He established the basis of glycobiology by developing a series of reliable methods to analyse the structures of N-linked sugar chains. The sensitive methods established by him greatly contributed to our understanding of the structural characteristics of the sugar chains and the biosynthetic mechanisms responsible for the production of such characteristics. He also provided new aspects that the sugar chains of glycoproteins play an important role in cell-to-cell recognition, and that the structures of sugar chains are altered under physiological and pathological conditions, including many tumours and diseases on a structural basis. In this article, the author would like to sketch out Kobata's main contributions to glycobiology for the sake of young scientists, who are planning to enter this scientific field in the future.
筱田脩是 N 连接糖链糖生物学的先驱。他通过开发一系列可靠的方法来分析 N 连接糖链的结构，为糖生物学奠定了基础。他建立的灵敏方法极大地促进了我们对糖链结构特征以及产生这些特征的生物合成机制的理解。他还提供了新的观点，即糖蛋白的糖链在细胞间识别中起着重要作用，并且糖链的结构在生理和病理条件下会发生改变，包括许多肿瘤和疾病都是基于结构改变的。在本文中，作者希望为未来有志于进入这一科学领域的年轻科学家勾勒出筱田脩在糖生物学方面的主要贡献。
