Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 28, 2026
12:30
Avidity-based Extracellular Interaction Screening (AVEXIS) for the Scalable Detection of Low-affinity Extracellular Receptor-Ligand Interactions
Published on: March 5, 2012
Synthetic multivalent ligands in the exploration of cell-surface interactions
L L Kiessling1, J E Gestwicki, L E Strong
1Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. kiessling@chem.wisc.edu
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
|December 5, 2000
Summary
Synthetic multivalent ligands probe cell surface binding events, acting as inhibitors or activators. They reveal how cells use multivalent interactions for enhanced binding and how receptor organization impacts cell signaling and responses.
Area of Science:
- Cell biology
- Biochemistry
- Molecular interactions
Background:
- Cell-cell recognition and signal transduction rely on multiple cell-surface receptor-ligand complexes.
- Synthetic multivalent ligands offer novel tools to study these complex biological events.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the utility of synthetic multivalent ligands as probes for cell-surface binding events.
- To explore the role of multivalent interactions in cellular avidity, specificity, and signaling.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing synthetic multivalent ligands as tools to investigate receptor-ligand interactions.
- Analyzing the impact of these ligands on signal transduction pathways.
- Examining how cells leverage multivalent binding for enhanced affinity and specificity.
Main Results:
- Synthetic multivalent ligands can function as inhibitors or activators of receptor-ligand interactions.
- These ligands provide insights into how cells achieve high avidity and specificity through multivalent binding.
- Cell-surface receptor organization significantly influences downstream signaling and cellular responses.
Conclusions:
- Synthetic multivalent ligands are valuable tools for dissecting complex cell-surface binding events.
- Understanding multivalent interactions is key to comprehending cell signaling and response mechanisms.
- The organization of cell-surface receptors plays a critical role in modulating cellular functions.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Cell-surface Signaling
Hormones—or any molecule that binds to a receptor, known as a ligand—that are lipid-insoluble (water-soluble) are not able to diffuse across the cell membrane. In order to be able to affect a cell without entering it, these hormones bind to receptors on the cell membrane. When a first messenger, a hormone, binds to a receptor, a signal cascade is set off, causing second messengers, proteins inside the cell, to become activated, resulting in downstream effects.
02:40Ligand Binding Sites
Proteins are dynamic macromolecules that carry out a wide variety of essential processes; however, the activities of most proteins depend on their interactions with other molecules or ions, known as ligands.
Protein-ligand interactions are quite specific; even though numerous potential ligands surround a cellular protein at any given time, only a particular ligand can bind to that protein. Moreover, a ligand binds only to a dedicated area on the surface of the protein, known as the...
Protein-ligand interactions are quite specific; even though numerous potential ligands surround a cellular protein at any given time, only a particular ligand can bind to that protein. Moreover, a ligand binds only to a dedicated area on the surface of the protein, known as the...
00:49Ligand Binding and Linkage
Allosteric proteins have more than one ligand binding site; the binding of a ligand to any of these sites influences the binding of ligands to the other sites. When a protein is allosteric, its binding sites are called coupled or linked. In the case of enzymes, the site that binds to the substrate is known as the active site and the other site is known as the regulatory site. When a ligand binds to the regulatory site, this leads to conformational changes in the protein that can influence the...
02:40Ligand Binding Sites
Proteins are dynamic macromolecules that carry out a wide variety of essential processes; however, the activities of most proteins depend on their interactions with other molecules or ions, known as ligands.
Protein-ligand interactions are quite specific; even though numerous potential ligands surround a cellular protein at any given time, only a particular ligand can bind to that protein. Moreover, a ligand binds only to a dedicated area on the surface of the protein, known as the...
Protein-ligand interactions are quite specific; even though numerous potential ligands surround a cellular protein at any given time, only a particular ligand can bind to that protein. Moreover, a ligand binds only to a dedicated area on the surface of the protein, known as the...
01:32Types of Signaling Molecules
In multicellular organisms, many molecules transmit signals between cells to pass information. These signals vary in complexity and include small peptides, nucleotides, steroids, fatty acid derivatives, and dissolved gases such as nitric oxide. Some signaling molecules diffuse through the plasma membrane to act locally between neighboring cells or travel long distances. Others remain attached to the cell surface, transmitting information to other cells only when they make contact. In some...
01:25Selectins
Cell adhesion is an essential aspect of multicellularity. While stable cell interactions usually occur between cells of the same type, transient cell interactions occur between cells of different tissue types, such as between neutrophils and endothelial cells. Selectins are one class of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) that bind carbohydrate ligands to form transient cell adhesion. They are rod-like proteins with a long extracellular part of variable length ending with the lectin domain, which...