BCH2011 Chapter Notes -Lipid A, Serotype, Vitreous Body
Document Summary
On almost every eukaryotic cell, specific oligosaccharide chains attached to components of the plasma membrane form a carbohydrate layer (the glycocalyx), that serves as an information-rich surface that is cell shows to its surroundings. These oligosaccharides are central players in cell-cell recognition and adhesion, cell migration during development. Blood clotting, the immune response, wound healing, and other cellular processes. In most of these cases, the informational carbohydrate is covalently joined to a protein or a lipid to form a glycoconjugate, which is the biologically active molecule. They are macromolecules of the cell surface or ecm in which one or more sulfated glycosaminoglycan chains are joined covalently to a membrane protein or a secreted protein. The glycosaminoglycan chain can bind to extracellular proteins through electrostatic interactions between the protein and negatively charged sugar moieties on the proteoglycan. Proteoglycans are major components of all extracellular matrices.
