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Proteins that bind high-mannose sugars of the HIV envelope.

Botos I, Wlodawer A

Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, NCI-Frederick, Building 536, Room 5, Frederick, MD 21702-1201, USA.

A broad range of proteins bind high-mannose carbohydrates found on the surface of the envelope protein gp120 of the human immunodeficiency virus and thus interfere with the viral life cycle, providing a potential new way of controlling HIV infection. These proteins interact with the carbohydrate moieties in different ways. A group of them interacts as typical C-type lectins via a Ca2+ ion. Another group interacts with specific single, terminal sugars, without the help of a metal cation. A third group is involved in more intimate interactions, with multiple carbohydrate rings and no metal ion. Finally, there is a group of lectins for which the interaction mode has not yet been elucidated. This review summarizes, principally from a structural point of view, the current state of knowledge about these high-mannose binding proteins and their mode of sugar binding.

Published 1 December 2004 in Prog Biophys Mol Biol, 88(2): 233-82.
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