Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 701 E. Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202.
Integr Comp Biol. 2003 Apr;43(2):323-30. doi: 10.1093/icb/43.2.323.
It is widely recognized that humoral and phagocyte-associated lectins constitute critical components of innate immunity in vertebrates and invertebrates. Their functions include not only self/non-self recognition but also engaging associated effector mechanisms, such as complement-mediated opsonization and killing of potential pathogens. One of the unresolved questions concerns the diversity in recognition capacity of the lectin repertoire, particularly in those organisms lacking adaptive immunity. In this paper, we discuss evidence suggesting that lectin repertoire in invertebrates and protochordates is highly diversified, and includes most of the lectin classes described so far in vertebrate species, as well as associated effector pathways.
人们普遍认为，体液和吞噬细胞相关的凝集素是脊椎动物和无脊椎动物固有免疫的重要组成部分。它们的功能不仅包括自我/非自我识别，还包括参与相关的效应机制，如补体介导的潜在病原体的调理作用和杀伤。一个悬而未决的问题是凝集素库的识别能力的多样性，特别是在那些缺乏适应性免疫的生物体中。在本文中，我们讨论了一些证据，表明无脊椎动物和原索动物的凝集素库具有高度的多样性，并且包括了迄今为止在脊椎动物物种中描述的大多数凝集素类，以及相关的效应途径。
