The C-type carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) superfamily.

The proteins of the CRD superfamily can be subdivided into six main groups, where members of a group have similar functions, molecular architecture and amino acid sequences. The determination of the tertiary structure of the CRD from MBP-A has defined the consensus structure for this module and can be considered a paradigm for the superfamily in general. The elegant work of Drickamer and colleagues has established the basic requirements for carbohydrate binding at both the tertiary and primary structure level, where the specificity of members of the CRD superfamily appears to correlate with specific sequence elements.