Carbohydrates: Second-Class Citizens in Biomedicine and Bioinformatics?

摘要: Carbohydrates differ from the two other classes of biological macromolecules (proteins and DNA) in important characteristics: their residues can be linked by many different linkage types they highly branched molecules. contain a potential information content which is several orders magnitude higher short sequence than that any macromolecule. on proteins influence properties involved recognition processes. Unlike peptides proteins, oligosaccharides cannot yet characterized terms secondary structural or three-dimensional motifs, although it may possible to develop descriptive system. Certain specific conformations carbohydrates play key role for process. Various carbohydrate ligands also enzyme-substrate processing pathway. In addition, inherent flexibility solution leads structures are frequently best described as ensembles distinct conformations. Understanding conformational behaviour cardinal importance represents challenge theoretical analysis techniques, such systematic search, molecular dynamics Monte Carlo sampling.