This award will support collaborative research in biochemistry between Dr. Kurt Drickamer, Columbia University and Dr. Ten Feizi, Medical Research Council Clinical Research Center, Harrow, Middlesex, England. The objective of the project is to study the detailed carbohydrate binding specificities of certain animal proteins called mammalian lectins. A type of common carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD) has been identified in proteins with diverse biological functions. Proteins containing these homologous domains include serum mannose binding proteins and the hepatic membrane receptor, which mediates endocytosis of asialoglycoproteins. Based on primary structure information, CRDs have been predicted and found in other proteins, such as pulmonary surfactant apoprotein and core protein of cartilage proteoglycan. Expression systems for producing these domains in Eschericia coli are being developed in the laboratory of _______________ the principal investigator in the United States. In this project, a collaboration is proposed with Dr. Ten Feizi; his research group has developed a method of blotting neoglycolipids which will allow the investigators to determine the detailed saccharide-binding specificity of the various CRDs and which will also be used to identify endogenous ligands for the domains. By combining the protein and molecular biology expertise of Dr. Drickamer's laboratory with the carbohydrate technology of Dr. Feizi's group, it will be possible to initiate a powerful new approach to analysis of the biological role of carbohydrate recognition. Dr. Drickamer is a leader in the molecular biology of mammalian lectins and related proteins and has demonstrated his ability to use recombinant DNA approaches for expression of the carbohydrate binding domain of these proteins.
