Weak Self-Association in a Carbohydrate System

ABSTRACT

The physiological importance of weak interactions between biological macromolecules (molar dissociation constants >10 �M) is now well recognized, particularly with regard to cell adhesion and immunological phenomena, and many weak interactions have been measured for proteins. The concomitant importance of carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions has also been identified, although no weak interaction between pure carbohydrate systems has ever been measured. We now demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge using a powerful probe for weak interactions-sedimentation velocity in the analytical ultracentrifuge-that at least some carbohydrates (from the class of …