Probing Protein–Carbohydrate Interactions with Microarrays of Synthetic Oligosaccharides

On the spot: Carbohydrate microarrays, in concert with surface plasmon resonance, are valuable tools in the rapid identification of carbohydrate–protein interactions, like those between high-mannose oligosaccharides and cyanovirin-N (see picture). By utilizing chemical methods amenable to current high-throughput screening technologies, high-density carbohydrate microarrays can be prepared and screened by using conventional and widely accessible DNA microarray screening instrumentation.