Soluble adamantyl glycosphingolipid analogs as probes of glycosphingolipid function.

Despite the extensive structural characterization of glycosphingolipids (GSLs), their functions in cell physiology and pathobiology remain elusive. This is largely owing to the fact that they are difficult to handle, being insoluble in aqueous media, and that no one gene alone determines their synthesis. The heterogeneity of the lipid moiety provides a further confounding factor.

Novel binding epitope for Helicobacter pylori found in neolacto carbohydrate chains: structure and cross-binding properties.

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that colonizes the stomach of a majority of the global human population causing common gastric diseases like ulcers and cancer. It has an unusually complex pattern of binding to various host glycoconjugates including interaction with sialylated, sulfated, and fucosylated sequences. The present study describes an additional binding epitope comprising the neolacto internal sequence of GlcNAcbeta3-Galbeta4GlcNAcbeta.

Binding of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae to phosphatidylethanolamine.

The gram-negative bacterium Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the causative agent of porcine fibrinohemorrhagic necrotizing pleuropneumonia, a disease that causes important economic losses to the swine industry worldwide. In general, the initial step of bacterial colonization is attachment to host cells. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the binding of A.