In this seventh installment of this series, biological pathways involving glycoproteins, glycan-related genes relevant to disease, and a database on infectious diseases and glycans will be described. To understand the functional aspects of glycans, it would be useful to know which proteins are glycosylated, and the pathways involving glycoproteins (GlyCosmos Pathways). In addition, glycans are known to have a role in the pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and progression of a variety of diseases. This article also introduces diseases caused by mutations of genes involved in glycan synthesis and glycan degradation, and covers the features of databases on the relationships between infectious microorganisms and glycans (GDGDB and PACDB)
Various biological functions of chitin and chitosan, polysaccharides contained in crab shells, are known. Many studies conducted during the past 50 years have indicated the efficiencies of chitin and chitosan for wound healing. At present, wound dressings made from chitin are also used in the medical field. Here, the wound-healing effects of chitin and chitosan are explained.
A variety of biological processes are controlled through the reading of the glycocode by lectins. However, an elucidation of the mechanism is not easy, because it is based on ambiguous specificity and weak binding. Only a few methods to analyze these interactions have been developed so far. Frontal affinity chromatography (FAC) is a precious research method, which has as its strength the ability to analyze these kinds of interactions. I would like to encourage the use of this method.
