Fig. 1.

Basic structure and molecular characteristics of human galectins. Carbohydrate-recognizing domains (CRDs) are schematically presented as pacman-like symbols (purple and red) linked to non-lectin domains (showed as yellow/orange bars). Proto-type galectins can form noncovalent homodimers (not shown), while tandem-repeat galectins contain two covalently linked homologous CRDs. CRD of chimera-type galectin-3 is linked to a collagen-α-like sequence (orange) followed by a small N-terminal end (green circle) mediating the formation of oligomers. Sizes of human galectin molecules were derived from the GeneCards Database at www.genecards.org