Spawning marine invertebrates are excellent models for studying fertilization and reproductive isolating mechanisms. To identify variation in the major steps in sea urchin gamete recognition, we studied sperm activation in three closely related sympatric Strongylocentrotus species. Sperm undergo acrosomal exocytosis upon contact with sulfated polysaccharides in the egg-jelly coat. This acrosome...

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) are neurotropic viruses and common human pathogens causing a major public health problem such as genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease also correlated to increased transmission and replication of the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1). Therefore, compounds capable of blocking HIV-1, HSV-1 and HSV-2 transmission represent c...

The novel highly sulfated (35%) fucoidan fraction Cf2 , which contained, along with fucose, galactose and traces of xylose and uronic acids was purified from the brown alga Coccophora langsdorfii. Its structural features were predominantly determined (in comparison with fragments of known structure) by a rapid mass spectrometric investigation of the low-molecular-weight fragments, obtained by "...

Vesicles derived from maize roots retain a membrane bound H(+)-ATPase that is able to pump H+ at the expense of ATP hydrolysis. In this work it is shown that heparin, fucose-branched chondroitin sulfate and dextran sulfate 8000 promote a shift of the H(+)-ATPase optimum pH from 6.0 to 7.0. This shift is a result of a dual effect of the sulfated polysaccharides, inhibition at pH 6.0 and activati...

Recombinant human betacellulin binds strongly to heparin, requiring of the order of 0.8 M NaCl for its elution from a heparin affinity matrix. This is in complete contrast to the prototypic member of its cytokine superfamily, epidermal growth factor, which fails to bind to the column at physiological pH and strength. We used a well-established heparin binding ELISA to demonstrate that fucoidan ...

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 are neurotropic viruses and common human pathogens causing major public health problems such as genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease also correlated with increased transmission and replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Therefore, compounds capable of blocking HIV-1, HSV-1, and HSV-2 transmission represent candidate mi...

Matrix metalloproteinases are maintained in an inactive state by a bond between the thiol of a conserved cysteine in the prodomain and a zinc atom in the catalytic domain. Once this bond is disrupted, MMPs become active proteinases and can act on a variety of extracellular protein substrates. In vivo, matrilysin (MMP7) activates pro-alpha-defensins (procryptdins), but in vitro, processing of th...

The challenges inherent in the synthesis of large glycosaminoglycan (GAG) polysaccharides have made chemically accessible multivalent glycoligands a valuable tool in the field of GAG mimetics. However, the difficulty of positioning sulfated sugar motifs at desired sites has hindered efforts to precisely tailor their biofunctions. Here, we achieved precise orientation of sulfated disaccharide mo...

Sulfated mucopolysaccharides, such as heparin, heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfates and dermatan sulfate, have been shown to be normal constituents of animal tissues and body fluids. Their biological functions are not yet known with certainty. A role as lubricants in the living organism was ascribed to these sulfated mucopolysaccharides due to their highly viscous and elastic properties in sol...

Meat is a well-known enhancer of iron absorption, yet the molecular entity mediating the effect remains obscure. Recently published data indicate that highly acidic sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAG) from fish and chicken muscle are effective stimulants of iron uptake in Caco-2 cells. Two fully randomized stable isotope studies with crossover design were performed in a group of 16 apparently hea...