Studies on molecular interactions of protein and their carbohydrate ligands by NMR

Although Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is one of the most powerful methods for determining molecular conformations, it was hard to apply it to protein-carbohydrate interaction conformational studies due to weak binding affinities. This problem has been solved by three dimensional NOESY-HSQC NMR techniques using synthesized C-13-labelled carbohydrate ligands. In addition, the liquid crystalline phase NMR, which is a new and revolutionary NMR method for the analysis of proteins, has been successfully applied to protein-carbohydrate interaction research field and has been able to give more highly sensitive results.