Fig. 4: Lectins can be grouped into structural binding preferences.

a Systematic analysis of lectins by their mode of binding. Each lectin is shown via their correlation of binding with average motif SASA and torsion-based flexibility, with quadrants (colored) loosely grouping the lectins. A Pearson correlation coefficient captures the relationship between SASA-dependency and torsion-based flexibility-dependency across lectins. b Conformer selection with the example of the fungal galectin ACG (depicted PDB: 1WW6). The bound lactose and blood group A conformers (as well as the most common lactose conformer) are shown with their van-der-Waals surface, along with their conformer frequency. For bound conformers, the torsion angles for the Galβ1-4Glc (3WG1 [https://www.rcsb.org/structure/3WG1]) and Galβ1-4GlcNAc (3WG3 [https://www.rcsb.org/structure/3WG3]) linkage are shown too. c Ramachandran-like plot of the torsion angles of lectin-bound Fuc motifs from UniLectin3D. Using the glycontact.process.get_glycosidic_torsions function, we extracted φ and ψ angles from 133 co-crystal structures of lectins binding a glycan that contained fucose. Dots are colored by disaccharide sequence.