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Review
. 2015 May 27;20(6):9745-66.
doi: 10.3390/molecules20069745.

Molecular Interactions of β-(1→3)-Glucans with Their Receptors

Affiliations
Review

Molecular Interactions of β-(1→3)-Glucans with Their Receptors

Laurent Legentil et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

β-(1→3)-Glucans can be found as structural polysaccharides in cereals, in algae or as exo-polysaccharides secreted on the surfaces of mushrooms or fungi. Research has now established that β-(1→3)-glucans can trigger different immune responses and act as efficient immunostimulating agents. They constitute prevalent sources of carbons for microorganisms after subsequent recognition by digesting enzymes. Nevertheless, mechanisms associated with both roles are not yet clearly understood. This review focuses on the variety of elucidated molecular interactions that involve these natural or synthetic polysaccharides and their receptors, i.e., Dectin-1, CR3, glycolipids, langerin and carbohydrate-binding modules.

Keywords: CBM; CR3; Dectin-1; glycolipids; langerin; β-(1→3)-glucans.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Solvent accessible surface of Plodia interpunctella N-βGRP complexed with laminarihexaose (data from Protein Data Bank entry 3AQZ).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Solvent accessible surface of family 4 CBM from Thermotoga maritima complexed with laminarihexaose (a) and family 6 CBM from Bacillus halodurans complexed with laminarihexaose (b) (data from Protein Data Bank entry 1GUI and 1W9W respectively).

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