Skip Navigation

Journal of Biochemistry 2009 146(2):149-156; doi:10.1093/jb/mvp103
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Suzuki, A.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Suzuki, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Authors 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Japanese Biochemical Society. All rights reserved

JB Reflections and Perspectives

Tamio Yamakawa: Dawn of Glycobiology

Akemi Suzuki*

Institute of Glycoscience, Tokai University, 1117 Kitakaname, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, 259-1292, Japan

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +81-463-58-1211 (ext. 4643); Fax: +81-463-50-2432; E-mail: akmszk{at}tokai-u.jp


  Abstract

Tamio Yamakawa isolated a glycosphingolipid from horse erythrocyte membrane, named it hematoside, and reported the results in Journal of Biochemistry. This was the first paper to report that glycosphingolipids are located in the cell membrane. He also isolated a glycosphingolipid, globoside, from human erythrocytes and demonstrated for the first time that ABO blood group antigens are glycosphingolipids in the erythrocytes. He reported the correct chemical structure of sulfatide, and found seminolipid, which is unexpectedly a glyceroglycolipid, as the major glycolipid of mammalian testis and spermatozoa. He started and developed the research of glycolipid biochemistry and established the basis for the further development of glycobiology. He published most of his original work in Journal of Biochemistry and made great efforts to improve review process of the journal as an editor-in-chief.

Key Words: ABO blood group activity, globoside, glycolipids, hematoside, neuraminic acid, sialic acid

Abbreviations: NeuAc, N-acetylneuraminic acid; NeuGc, N-glycolyneuraminic acid; Cer, ceramide; Gb4Cer, globotetraosylceramide


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.