Chemical structure, biosynthesis and genetic regulation of carbohydrate antigens: retrospect and prospect

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Abstract
The carbohydrate antigens associated with the human ABO and Lewis blood group systems are prime examples of allogenetic diversity. Elucidation of their structures, pathways of biosynthesis and genetic regulation has provided a model for understanding the genetic and enzymic basis of changes in expression of cell surface carbohydrates that occur in normal differentiation and malignancy. progress for the last 40 years or more and most of the general principles concerning structural patterns of the sugars, their method of attachment to protein or ceramide, the existence of heterogeneity of the oligosaccharide chains and their mechanisms of biosynthesis have been long established. As in all fields exciting new observations have arisen in the pursuance of other more immediate objectives, such as the discovery of a new type of 2-glycosidic linkage involved in the glycosylation of nuclear and cytoplasmic components (ref.1) and the finding that certain proteins in mammalian cells are anchored in the membrane via glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol structures (ref.2). However,

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