Kumar Dharmendra, Mittal Yashoda
Bioinformation. 2011;6(3):134-6. doi: 10.6026/97320630006134. Epub 2011 Apr 22.
Lectins, a class of carbohydrate-binding proteins and widely recognized to play a range of crucial roles in many cell-cell recognition events triggering several important cellular processes encompass different members that are diverse in their protein structures, carbohydrate affinities and specificities, their larger biological roles and potential applications. To attain an effective use of all the diverse data initially an animal lectin database 'AnimalLectinDb' with information pertaining to taxonomic, structural, domain architecture, molecular sequence, carbohydrate structure and blood group specificity has been developed. It is expected to be of high value not only for basic study in lectin biology but also for advanced research in pursuing several applications in biotechnology, immunology, and clinical practice.
The database is available for free at http://www.research-bioinformatics.in.
凝集素是一类碳水化合物结合蛋白,在许多细胞间识别事件中发挥一系列关键作用,引发多种重要细胞过程,包含不同成员,它们在蛋白质结构、碳水化合物亲和力与特异性、更大的生物学作用及潜在应用方面存在差异。为有效利用所有这些多样的数据,最初已开发了一个动物凝集素数据库“AnimalLectinDb”,其包含与分类学、结构、结构域架构、分子序列、碳水化合物结构及血型特异性相关的信息。预计它不仅对凝集素生物学的基础研究具有很高价值,而且对在生物技术、免疫学和临床实践中寻求多种应用的高级研究也具有很高价值。