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In the post-genomic era, glycomics (the functional study of carbohydrates in living organisms) has come into the forefront of biological research because the interactions of glycoconjugates with proteins not only occur widely in biological processes of cells but also initiate infection of host cells by bacteria and viruses. Microarrays have been reportedly successful in carbohydrate-protein interaction as well as cellular surface glycan profiling. This review provides an overview of recent progress in the development of microarray-based techniques for glycomic studies. The fabrication, application and challenge/bottleneck of glycan/lectin microarrays have been summarized and discussed.

In order to develop a novel high-throughput tool for monitoring carbohydrate-protein interactions, we prepared carbohydrate or glycoprotein microarrays by immobilizing amino modified carbohydrates on aldehyde-derivatized glass slides or glycoprotein on epoxide-derivatized glass slides and carried out lectin binding experiments by using these microarrays, respectively. The interaction events are marked by attachment of gold nanoparticles followed by silver deposition for signal enhancement. The attachment of the gold nanoparticles is achieved by standard avidin-biotin chemistry. The detection principle is resonance light scattering (RLS). The well-defined recognition systems, namely, three monosaccharides (Man-alpha, Glc-beta and Gal-beta) or three glycoproteins (Asf, RNase A and RNase B) with two lectins (ConA and RCA120), were chosen here to establish the RLS assay, respectively. Highly selective recognition of carbohydrate-protein down to 25.6 pg/mL for RCA120 in solution and 8 microM for Gal-beta and 32 ng/mL for Asf on the microarray spots is demonstrated.

To develop a novel high-throughput tool for monitoring carbohydrate-protein interactions, carbohydrate or glycoprotein microarrays have been prepared for binding with lectins. The interaction events are marked by attachment of fluorescent dyes and gold nanoparticles. The attachment of the fluorescent dyes and gold nanoparticles is achieved by standard avidin-biotin chemistry. The detection principle is fluorescence or resonance light scattering (RLS). The electroless deposition of silver onto the gold particles has been employed for RLS signal enhancement. Well-defined recognition systems, three monosaccharides (Man-alpha, Glc-beta, and Gal-beta) or three glycoproteins (Asf, RNase A, and RNase B) with two lectins (ConA and RCA120), are chosen here to establish the microarray-based assay, respectively. Highly selective recognition of carbohydrate-protein down to 25.6 pg/mL for RCA120 in solution and 8 microM for Gal-beta and 32 ng/mL for Asf on the microarray spots is demonstrated.