Short description:

There has been an explosion of progress in understanding the roles of carbohydrates in biological systems. This is second volume in the Methods in Enzymology series which is dedicated to disseminating information on methods in determining the biological roles of carbohydrates.

Long description:

In the past decade, there has been an explosion of progress in understanding the roles of carbohydrates in biological systems. This explosive progress was made with the efforts in determining the roles of carbohydrates in immunology, neurobiology and many other disciplines, examining each unique system and employing new technology. This volume represents the second of three in the Methods in Enzymology series, including Glycobiology (vol. 415) and Glycomics (vol. 416), dedicated to disseminating information on methods in determining the biological roles of carbohydrates. These books are designed to provide an introduction of new methods to a large variety of readers who would like to participate in and contribute to the advancement of glycobiology. The methods covered include structural analysis of carbohydrates, biological and chemical synthesis of carbohydrates, expression and determination of ligands for carbohydrate-binding proteins, gene expression profiling including micro array, and generation of gene knockout mice and their phenotype analyses.

Table of Contents:

Section I. N-Glycan Function Revealed by Gene Inactivation

Cytokine Sensitivity and N-Glycan Processing Mutations

Phenotype Changes of Fut8 Knockout Mouse: Core Fucosylation Is Crucial for the Function of Growth Factor Receptor(s)

Section II. Neural Cell Function

Cellular and Molecular Analysis of Neural Development of Glycosyltransferase Gene Knockout Mice

Roles of Glycolipids in the Development and Maintenance of Nervous Tissues

Analysis of Neural Cell Functions in Gene Knockout Mice: Electrophysiological Investigation of Synaptic Plasticity in Acute Hippocampal Slices

Analysis of Neural Cell Function in Gene Knockout Mice: Behavior

Electrophysiological Analysis of Interactions Between Carbohydrates and Transmitter Receptors Reconstituted in Lipid Bilayers

Section III. Notch Signaling and Muscular Dystrophy

Methods for Analysis of O-Linked Modifications on Epidermal Growth Factor-Like and Thrombospondin Type 1 Repeats

Roles of O-Fucosyltransferase 1 and O-Linked Fucose in Notch Receptor Function

Roles of O-Fucose Glycans in Notch Signaling Revealed by Mutant Mice

Defect in Glycosylation that Causes Muscular Dystrophy

Section IV. Glycolipid Function

Identification and Analysis of Novel Glycolipids in Vertebrate Brains by HPLC/Mass Spectrometry

Modulation of Growth Factor Signaling by Gangliosides: Positive Or Negative?

Activation of Natural Killer T Cells by Glycolipids

Section V. Glycolipid Interaction

Determination of Glycolipid-Protein Interaction Specificity

Analysis of Carbohydrate-Carbohydrate Interactions Using Gold Glyconanoparticles and Oligosaccharide Self-Assembling Monolayers

Section VI. Galectin Function

Galectin Interactions with Extracellular Matrix and Effects on Cellular Function

Galectins in Apoptosis

On the Role of Galectins in Signal Transduction

Section VII. Newly Developed Field

Helicobacter pylori Adhesion to Carbohydrates

Caenorhabditis elegans Carbohydrates in Bacterial Toxin Resistance

N-Glycans Are Involved in the Response of Caenorhabditis elegans to Bacterial Pathogens

Detection of Cytoplasmic Glycosylation Associated with Hydroxyproline

Author Index

Subject Index