The History of Lectinology

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Abstract

The discovery of non-antibody proteins with inherent selectivity rested on observing agglutination of erythrocytes. The detection of ABO blood-group-selective activities different from immunoglobulins led to the introduction of the term ‘lectin’ by W. C. Boyd in 1954. The current definition delimits these carbohydrate-binding proteins from sugar-specific immunoglobulins, enzymes acting on the ligand and sensor/transport proteins for free mono- and oligosaccharides.

Keywords

Castor Bean Ricinus Communis Bipyramidal Crystal Haptenic Inhibition Terminal Galactosyl 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Faculty of Veterinary MedicineLudwig-Maximilians-University MunichMunchenGermany

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