Lectins and nucleic acids as molecular probes

Lectins are biomolecules with high affinity and narrow range of specificity for defined sugar residues so that they can be used as selective probes for the detection of glycoconjugate glycosylation. A large number of lectins with differing specificities have been identified and found in a variety of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. Due to their high specificity and multiple functions, lectins are important tools in research and applied sciences (MÄKELÄ O, 1957; UHLENBRUCK G et al., 1968; LIS H and SHARON N, 1973; GOLDSTEIN IJ and HAYES CE, 1978; SIMPSON DL et al., 1978; UHLENBRUCK G and KARDUCK D, 1979; UHLENBRUCK G et al., 1979; BARONDES SH, 1981; UHLENBRUCK G, 1981; GOLDSTEIN IJ and PORETZ RD, 1986; LEMIEUX RU, 1989; HIRABAYASHI J, 2004; SHARON N and LIS H, 2004; KUNO A et al., 2005; SHARON N, 2007; TATENO H et al., 2007; HIRABAYASHI J, 2008; LI C et al., 2009, KUNO A et al., 2009; TAYLOR AD et al., 2009; YAMAMOTO K, 2009).