植物凝集素的分子生物学研究

植物凝集素是一类具有高度特异性糖结合活性的蛋白，含有一个或多个可与单糖或寡聚糖特异可逆结合的非催化结构域。它的糖结合特异性主要针对外源寡糖，主要生理功能是介异植物的防御反应。到目前为止已克隆了２２２个植物凝集素基因。作者就植物凝集素的分类、性质、功能、凝集素基因的克隆和凝集素的翻译后加工过程作一综述。

Study on the Molecular Biology of Plant Lectin

plant lectins are plant proteins possessing at least one non-catalytic domain that binds reversibly to a specific mono- or oligosaccharides. They distinguish themselves from all other plant proteins by the carbohydrate-binding specificity of plant lectins. Most lectins have a much higher affinity for foreign oligosaccharides than for simple sugars, which makes the main physiological role of plant lectins is to mediate defense response in plant. A search against the most updated EMBL database shows that 222 lectin genes have been cloned. Here we present a review on classification, characters, functions and molecular cloning of plant lectins, and the post-translational processing of them.