Glycoconjugate Research, Volume I contains the proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Glycoconjugates, held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in September 1977. Contributors focus on the state of knowledge in the field of glycoconjugates ranging from polysaccharides and glycoproteins to glycolipids, proteoglycans, and all their varieties in plants, animals, and microorganisms. This text is organized into three sections and consists of 87 chapters. After an introductory chapter where the use of glycosidases for the structural analysis of complex carbohydrates is described, the discussion turns to other methods used for elucidating the structure of complex carbohydrates. The chapters that follow focus on the primary structure and conformation of glycans that are N-glycosically linked to peptide chains; isolation of monofuco-disialoganglioside from human and bovine brains; and partial chemical characterization of activated peptides isolated from a single cell suspension of rat colonic secretory cells. The last two sections explore cartilage proteoglycans and the structure-function relationships of glycoconjugates, touching on topics such as link proteins; the biochemical aspects of malignancy in human chondrosarcomas; defensive response of plants to a microbial oligosaccharide with a pheromone-like activity; and the interaction of saccharides with ricin. This book is intended for students and practitioners of chemistry and biochemistry; biology and microbiology; and physiology.