Conferencia: «NMR and molecular recognition: glycan-protein interactions»

Molecular recognition by specific targets is at the heart of the life processes. In recent years, it has been shown that the interactions between proteins (lectins, enzymes, antibodies) and carbohydrates mediate a broad range of biological activities, from fertilization, embryogenesis, and tissue maturation, to pathological processes. The elucidation of the mechanisms that govern how glycans are accommodated in the binding sites of these receptors is currently a topic of interest. Thus, the determination of the structural and conformational factors and the physicochemical features that govern the molecular recognition of these molecules is of paramount importance.

This presentation is focused on the application of NMR methods both from the ligand and receptor’s perspective (especially HSQC-based chemical shift perturbation analysis, Saturation Transfer Difference, and trNOESY experiments) to the study of molecular recognition processes between a variety of polypeptides of biomedical interest and carbohydrate-based molecules, drugs and inhibitors.

The use of novel lanthanide-binding tags and glycomimetics as probes for monitoring interactions from the ligand’s point of view will be highlighted. Different glycan receptors, both wild type and mutants, have been used as receptors with the final aim to know and to evaluate the relative importance of polar (hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions) and non polar (van der Waals, CH-π) forces in the molecular recognition processes and to design novel molecules with improved binding properties. As examples, the structural and conformational details of the effect of branching in the glycan chain and how this affects its recognition by lectins, enzymes, and antibodies will be shown.

For more information on CIC bioGUNE, see:

http://www.cicbiogune.es/secciones/el_centro/quienes_somos.php?idioma=en

For recent publications included in pubmed, see:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Jiménez-Barbero+J%5BAuthor%5D+not+jimenez-barbero+ja

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