Regulation of Protein-Carbohydrate Interactions in Bacteria and Fungi

Abstract

This paper concerns protein-carbohydrate interactions as they undergird numerous significant biological activities with special emphasis on bacteria and fungi. Carbohydrates are relevant biopolymers which possess diverse functions. Predominantly, carbohydrates serve as recognition macromolecules by specifically recognizing other biomolecules. Lectins are proteins which bind carbohydrate structures. Protein-carbohydrate interactions constitute the foundation of specific carbohydrate recognition by lectins. In comparison to the research on protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions, it is recently that scientists became interested more in protein-carbohydrate binding. Several of these interactions are associated with carbohydrates located at the cell surface as component of a membrane glycoprotein or glycolipid. Carbohydrate chains of glycoproteins, proteoglycans, polysaccharides, and glycolipids mediate multiple biological processes via their interactions with carbohydrate specific recognizing and binding proteins. These interactions are capable of influencing cellular adhesion and other cellular recognition activities, and also include signal transduction, inflammation, and host-pathogen recognition. Protein-carbohydrate interactions constitute the crux of several vital biological processes as well as signaling, recognition and catalysis. A perspective of these interactions at the molecular level [1,2] is liable to assist to develop newfangled, effective, efficient, increasingly predictive and selective therapeutic strategies which are potentially beneficial to mankind. Glycosidases and glycosyltransferases are certain carbohydrate-processing enzymes which govern the synthesis and breakdown of oligosaccharides. These enzymes have emerged as crucial targets in curbing bacterial and fungal pathogenesis, AIDS,

Comments on bacterial and fungal interactions in medicine, agriculture and the environment

“…Microfluidic devices have provided the latitude for microscopic research, long-run and time-lapse studies (Stanley et al, 2014). Elucidation of bacterial-fungal interactions in the rhizosphere is liable to enhance the feasible bacterial application to curb plant fungal pathogens as alternatives to chemicals in sustainable agriculture (Gkarmiri et al, 2015, Chukwuma, 2014, as well as full and proper elucidation of biochemical processes and biosynthetic pathways (Chukwuma 2016b, c;Chukwuma, 2017).…”

“…Certain beneficial bacteria and fungi having attributes of plant growth promoting microorganisms, PGPMs have the potential to mitigate metal phytotoxicity and stimulate plant growth: (i) indirectly via defence mechanism induction to combat phytopathogens; (ii) and/or indirectly via mineral nutrient solubilization, such as nitrogen, phosphate and potassium; (iii) formation of plant growth enhancing compounds, such as phytohormones and; (iv) specific enzyme secretion as per 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase. PGPM is capable of altering metal bioavailability in soil via diverse mechanisms, such as acidification, chelation, complexation, precipitation and redox reactions (Ma Y et al, 2016) Applications of advanced strategies can be developed to explicate the biochemical and regulatory mechanisms undergirding plant-microbial interactions (Chukwuma 2016a-c;Chukwuma, 2017), and their functionalities in the processes associated with phytoremediation, for instance, heavy metals and trace elements, detoxification, transformation, transportation and dissemination (Chukwuma, 2011;Chukwuma, 2014). Soil constitutes one of the principal habitats of fungi and bacteria, with their interactions forming an aspect of a communication network that sustains equilibrium of the microhabitats.…”