“Many knowledgeable biologists would say, almost reflexly, that complex carbohydrates probably play a pivotal role in determining the specificity of many biological recognition phenomenon” (Marchesi, Ginsburg & Robbins, 1978). So states the preface to an authorative symposium volume on surface carbohydrates. However, 16 years previously it was possible, in the light of contemporary knowledge, for a discussant at an equally authorative symposium to state, in relation to the recognition of self and non-self, “At the cell level it is possible that carbohydrate may play a part, carbohydrate is always present, but I know of no clear evidence yet to indicate that it plays a role in the mechanism by which cells discriminate between their closer and more distant relatives” (Davies, 1963). Clearly over this period, which incidentally corresponds very closely with the establishment of the Journal of Cell Science, a considerable development in the study...

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