Photoaffinity Labeling Approaches toward Identification of Carbohydrate–Lectin Interactions

Abstract

Cell surface carbohydrates play important roles in many biological and pathological processes. One of their modes of activity is through binding interactions with lectins. However, many of carbohydrate–lectin interactions are thought to remain unknown due to their low affinity, overlapping specificity and the lack of general tools to detect and isolate specific lectins. Photoaffinity labeling has emerged as a promising approach to investigate often elusive carbohydrate–protein interactions. This minireview aims to illustrate challenges associated in identifying carbohydrate–lectin interactions and to briefly present past developments in the design of carbohydrate photoaffinity probes.