The sugar--binding protein of non--immune origin that agglutinates or precipitates glycoconjugates, or lectins, can be found in animal, plant, and bacterial cells. Animal lectins may have important medical implications and the interest in animal lectins is fast increasing, as is the number of researchers on this subject.
Handbook of Animal Lectins provides a comprehensive yet concise guide to animal lectins. Split into two parts, it covers all animal sources from unicellular protozoa and slime moulds through invertebrates to mammals and birds.
The first part introduces animal lectins on both phylogenetic and structural bases and outlines their key biomedical applications. The second, and major part, is a quick reference alphabetical directory listing approximately 170 lectins. Each lectin entry provides, where known, details of its:
* Isolation
* Structure
* Biological activities
* Tissue and/or subcellular distribution
* Possible functions
* Applications
A bibliography of each lectin is also included and useful appendices list lectins according to their sugar specificity, characterised lectins of human origin by tissue source and commercial suppliers of animal lectins.
Handbook of Animal Lectins is aimed at basic scientists and clinicians alike and will be invaluable to both established research workers and newcomers to this area. It will be of particular interest to biochemists, cell biologists, immunologists, oncologists, pharamacologists, medical practitioners and students of medical and biological sciences.
"the book is a genuinely useful tool for immunologists and cell biologists"
(Biochemie, No. 83, 2001)
"It may be regarded the current "gold standard" about the enormous scope of animal lectins" (Int.Jnl.of Medical Microbiology, Vol.291, No.5, 2001)
