Isolation and characterization of a lectin from edible mushroom, Volvariella volvacea

A lectin was purified from edible mushroom, Volvariella volvacea by extraction with 5% cold acetic acid in the presence of 0.1% 2-mercaptoethanol, followed by ammonium sulfate fractionation, and DEAE-C-52 and CM-C-52 column chromatographies. The molecular weight was measured to be 26,000, and the lectin consisted of two non-identical subunits as demonstrated by gel filtration and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The lectin does not contain half-cystine, methionine, or histidine. The LD50 of the lectin is 17.5 mg per kg body weight of mice. The lectin has a moderate inhibitory effect on the growth of tumor cells.     

Purification of a new fungal mannose-specific lectin from Penicillium chrysogenum and its aphicidal properties

Several Ascomycetes fungi are commonly used in bio-industries and provide available industrial residues for lectin extraction to be valuable. A lectin from Penicillium chrysogenum, named PeCL, was purified from a fungal culture using gel-filtration chromatography column. PeCL was found to be a mannose-specific lectin by haemagglutination activity towards rabbit erythrocyte cells and was visualised on SDS-PAGE gel. Purified PeCL fraction was delivered via artificial diet to Myzus persicae aphid and was demonstrated to be aphicidal at 0.1?% with higher toxic efficiency than a known mannose-binding lectin Concanavalin A (ConA). A fast and efficient way to purify PeCL and a potential use in pest control is described.     

Isolation and properties of beta-D-galactoside-specific lectin from chick embryo thigh muscle

A beta-galactoside-specific lectin, capable of agglutinating trypsinized rabbit erythrocytes, was isolated from 13-day-old embryonic chick thigh muscle and purified 1000-fold by affinity chromatography on asialofetuin/Sepharose and Sephadex G-100. A quantitative hemagglutinin assay based on the disappearance of single erythrocytes in a Coulter electronic particle counter was devised to measure lectin activity at different steps of purification. The molecular weight of the lectin was determined by gel filtration to be approximately 31,000, whereas polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate gave a value of approximately 15,000, suggesting that the lectin is a dimer. The lectin is unstable below pH 5, and it requires the presence of dithiothreitol for the retention of maximal activity. The major portion of this lectin is membrane-bound; only 50% of the activity present in the muscle homogenate could be isolated in soluble form by extraction of muscle acetone powder with a buffer of high ionic strength. In view of the lack of a calcium requirement for its activity, the role of this lectin in myoblast fusion, a calcium-dependent phenomenon, is not clear.     

白桦茸凝集素提取工艺的优化

对白桦茸凝集素最佳提取工艺进行了研究.以2%兔血细胞凝血效价为指标,确定了最佳提取缓冲液.通过正交试验对料液比、提取时间、提取液pH值、NaCl浓度等因素进行了优化分析并确定了提取工艺的最佳参数组合.结果表明,以TBS和PBS为提取缓冲液所得的白桦茸凝集素凝集效价分别为64、16;最佳提取工艺:液料比为50:1,提取时间为20h,NaCl浓度为0mol/L,缓冲液pH值为8.0,按该最佳工艺提取白桦茸凝集素凝血效价为256.所优化的提取工艺稳定、可行,为该凝集素进一步在免疫调节方面的开发应用提供一定基础.     

Analysis of lectin concentrations in different Rhizoctonia solani strains

Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that contain at least one carbohydrate binding domain which can bind to a specific mono- or oligosaccharide. These proteins are widely distributed in plants. However, over the last decade evidence is accumulating that lectins occur also in numerous fungi belonging to both the Ascomycota and Basiodiomycota. Rhizoctonia solani is known to be an important pathogen to a wide range of host plants. In this study, isolates of R. solani from different anastomosis groups have been screened for the presence of lectin using agglutination assays to detect and quantitate lectin activity. The evaluation included determination of the lectin content in mycelium as well as in sclerotia. The amount of lectin in the sclerotia was higher than in the mycelium of the same strains. The R. solani strains with the highest amounts of lectin have been selected for cultivation, extraction and purification of the lectin.     

Two laminin receptors with N-acetylglucosamine-binding specificity

Two glycoproteins, the first, CBP70 which has lectin properties, and the second, cbg72 which is a laminin-1 receptor, have been previously described. We investigated whether cbg72 could have lectin properties and whether CBP70 could have a laminin-receptor function. We observed that CBP70, like cbg72, is a laminin-binding protein. CBP70 interacts with laminin-1 in a carbohydrate-dependent fashion, but this interaction could also be a protein-protein interaction. In parallel, we showed that cbg72, as well as CBP70, is a lectin that recognizes glucose and N-acetylglucosamine in a calcium-dependent manner. Moreover, cross-immunoreactivity was observed between these two lectins using their respective antibodies. The resistance of the two lectins, cbg72 and CBP70, to Triton X-100 extraction, suggests that they potentially interact with cytoskeleton elements, since transmembrane proteins that interact with cytoskeleton elements are known to be resistant to such an extraction.     

Detection and characterization of a lectin from non-seed tissue ofPhaseolus vulgaris

The distribution of lectin in various tissues ofPhaseolus vulgaris L. (cv. red) has been investigated using a sensitive solid-phase enzyme immunoassay. Roots, leaves and stems from 3- to 4-week-old plants were screened for their lectin content; low levels could be detected in all organs, with a relative distribution of 37% in roots, 20% in leaves and 43% in stems. The lectin from stemsleaves and roots was then isolated from 5- to 6-week-old plants using extraction, salt fractionation and affinity chromatography on immobilized porcine thyroglobulin. A comparative study of the seed lectin and the lectin isolated from 5- to 6-week-old plants was made using hemagglutination, inhibition of hemagglutination, immunodiffusion, polyacrylamide and agarose electrophoresis. The results showed that lectin isolated from the different tissues was immunologically identical and exhibited the same subunit structure and similar isolectin composition as the seed lectin.Abbreviations EDTA ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid - PHA phytohemagglutinin - SDS sodium dodecyl sulfate     

Cytolocalization artifacts with immunofluorescent probes

Formaldehyde fixation, nonionic detergent extraction, and ligand binding are commonly used in conjunction with immunofluorescence microscopy to visualize antigens and lectin-reactive molecules in cytoskeletal preparations. These procedures have the potential to produce serious artifacts in cytolocalization studies, as is shown in the present investigation of wheat-germ agglutinin (WGA) binding and localization in BeWo choriocarcinoma cells. Formaldehyde fixation of intact cells reduced the binding of 125I-labeled WGA by 30% and altered the pattern of staining with fluorescein isothyocyanate (FITC)-WGA. Except for perinuclear sites which were brightly stained, the binding of FITC-WGA to other cell surface regions was significantly decreased. Nonionic detergent extractions had two different effects on lectin binding activity depending on whether or not the cells had been pretreated with lectin. In lectin-pretreated cells, 50% of bound lectin was solubilized by detergent but all of the surface binding sites appeared to be retained in active form in the detergent-insoluble residue. Nuclear-cytoskeletal monolayers prepared from cells that were not lectin pretreated lost considerable binding activity, however. These results suggest that a number of erroneous conclusions can be drawn from studies on cytoskeletal associations with membrane components using immunofluorescence microscopy on fixed and detergent-extracted cells.     

A lectin from the thigh muscle of Rana tigerina

Lectin activity has been detected in the thigh muscle extracts of Rana tigerina, which was found to agglutinate both trypsinized and untrypsinized rabbit erythrocytes. The lectin has been purified to homogeneity by MEPBS (0.01 M phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.2) with 4 mM beta-mercaptoethanol) buffer extraction of the tissue and affinity chromatography on acid-treated Sepharose 6B. The molecular weight (Mr) of the purified lectin was determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and gel filtration on Sephadex G-75, which gave values of 15,500 +/- 1000 and 32,000 +/- 1000, respectively, suggesting that the lectin is a dimer. Amino acid composition data of the lectin has revealed that it contains a high proportion of glycine and alanine, and low amounts of sulphur-containing amino acids. Hapten-inhibition study of this lectin has shown that it is galactose-specific. Hemagglutination activity of the lectin can also be inhibited by beta-galactoside containing oligosaccharides.     

Marine algal lectins: new developments

Lectins can be extracted more readily from marine algae if the plant material is freeze-dried or frozen in liquid nitrogen prior to homogenisation. The addition of detergents, such as Tween 80, to the extraction medium and diluents, enhances extraction and detection of the lectins. Marine algal lectins can be isolated by affinity chromatography using a general affinity complex such as yeast mannan-Cellulofine which facilitates the isolation of purified lectin for biochemical characterisation. Red algal lectins exist as three types: low molecular weight molecules which bind glycoproteins, but not monosaccharides and have no requirement for divalent cations; lectins which bind monosaccharides and related small molecules, but have no divalent cation requirements; larger lectins (M.W. > 64000) which bind monosaccharides in the presence of divalent cations. No green algal lectin characterised so far requires divalent cations for haemagglutination. Possibly, only green algal lectins capable of forming oligomers have the capacity to bind monosaccharides.     

Isolation of fully active and stable corn coleoptile lectins

It appears that the reason for the lack of information and data about corn coleoptile lectin is due to the instability of preparation with a rapid loss of hemagglutinating activity and abundant precipitate. In this paper, we assayed phosphate, borate, tris, and ascorbate-sucrose extraction buffers to compare lectin activity and protein yield. The ascorbate-sucrose buffer (AS-buffer) proved to be the best extracting solution. In a second step, cold acetone was employed to concentrate crude lectin. An increase of specific activity from the first to the third acetone precipitation was obtained. The protective effect on hemagglutinating activity of AS-buffer led us to test cysteine, metabisulfite, borohydride, and dithiothreitol (DTT) as reducing agents. The compounds were ineffective. Dissociating gel electrophoresis of the acetone-purified lectin disclosed a band pattern of components around 60 kD, a second band at 29 kD, and minor bands close to 15 KD. The procedure is useful for the preparation of stable, high activity corn coleoptile lectin. Further purification using affinity chromatography, as in reference (1) could become a major advance to obtain corn lectin of adequate purity for sequential analysis.     

大瓶螺凝集素的分离纯化及部分性质研究

大瓶螺蛋白腺经磷酸盐缓冲液抽提、硫酸铵分级沉淀、ＳｅｐｈａｄｅｘＧ－１００和Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ４Ｂ凝胶过滤,可获得在不连续ＰＡＧＥ（ｐＨ４．３和ｐＨ８．９）上显示单一蛋白质染色带的大瓶螺凝集素（ＡＧＬ）．该凝集素对人血红细胞无血型专一性,但对Ａ型血红细胞的凝集作用最强．ＡＧＬ的血凝活力可被乳糖或半乳糖所抑制．ＡＧＬ分子中的中性糖含量为０．２４ｍｇ／ｍｇ蛋白质．用ＳＤＳ－ＰＡＧＥ法测得其亚基分子量为１５０００,且只有一种亚基．ＡＧＬ中Ｃｙｓ和Ｐｈｅ的含量较高,并较耐热．     

Purification and characterization of lectins from Vicia hirsuta

The presence of three lectins in the seeds of Vicia hirsuta (L.) S. F. Gray, a wild-growing vetch, was shown. The main lectin was purified to homogeneity by buffer extraction, ammonium sulfate precipitation, affinity chromatography on Sephadex G-100 and isoelectric focusing in granulated gel. By chromatofocusing instead of isoelectric focusing the yield was increased 5-fold. The lectin has a pi of 6.4. It is composed of large β-subunits (M_r 19.200) and small α-subunits (M_r 12.800) in a 1:1 ratio. The subunits can be separated on Sephadex G-75 when equilibrated with 6 M guanidine-HCl. The amino acid composition of the two different subunits has been determined. No sulfur-containing amino acids are present. The lectin resembles the lectins from legumes from the same cross-inoculation group, i.e. Lens culinaris, Lens esculenta, Pisum satiyum and several Vicia spp. by the same type of sugar specificity and amino acid composition.     

Isolation of a developmentally regulated lectin from chick embryo

A lectin is isolated from the microsomal fraction of chick embryo kidney after initial extraction with 1 M urea and 0.3 M lactose. To exhibit hemagglutination activity, the lectin in the microsomal fraction requires prior activation by solublization with deoxycholate or by treatment with trypsin, chymotrypsin or phospholipase c. The lectin is partially purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography about 200 fold from the microsomal fraction. The lectin binds strongly to de-sialated embryonic carbohydrates and shows low affinity toward glucosamine, galactosamine and mannosamine, as judged by the inhibition of hemagglutination. Comparison of the lectin activity from kidneys of embryos at different ages shows that the lectin is developmentally regulated.     

Purification and characterization of a magnesium ion requiring N-acetyl-D-glucosamine specific lectin from seeds of Quercus ilex L

A new magnesium ion requiring N-acetyl-D-glucosamine specific lectin QIL was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from seeds of Quercus ilex L. through successive steps of (i) lectin extraction, (ii) ammonium sulphate (30-50%) fractionation, (iii) diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-cellulose chromatography, (iv) carboxymethyl (CM)-cellulose chromatography, and (v) Sephadex G-75 chromatography. The lectin, having specific activity of 25,600 hemagglutination units (HAU)/mg of protein, was found to be a monomeric protein with a native molecular weight of 13.2 kDa. N-Acetyl-D-glucosamine was found to exhibit most potent inhibitory action on the lectin activity among all the sugars tested. The lectin was also found to exhibit specificity for human blood groups A, B, and AB. It was converted to the corresponding apo-lectin by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) treatment followed by buffer dialysis. The apo-lectin exhibited a specific and characteristic requirement for magnesium ions for the expression of its activity.     

An enzyme-linked lectin binding assay for quantitative determination of lectin receptors

An enzyme-linked lectin binding assay (ELBA) has been developed for the detection of soluble lectin binding substances (receptors) and the determination of their relative affinity for the lectin. The assay is based on competitive binding to enzyme-labeled lectin of a known lectin receptor, bound to a solid phase, and unknown sample receptors. In this paper the assay is exemplified with the mannose/glucose-specific pea lectin, with the glycoprotein ovalbumin as its receptor, and with horseradish peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7) as the enzyme used for labeling. Also a method was developed for the preparation of peroxidase-labeled lectin. Labeling was started by mixing equimolar amounts of lectin and periodate-oxidized enzyme at pH 4.5 at a final concentration of 10(-4)M, after which conjugation was started by raising the pH to 9.5. This resulted in complete conjugation, after which the product could be diluted 50-500 times for application in ELBA. For the ELBA ovalbumin was adsorbed onto polystyrene microtiter plates. Sample receptors, added together with the enzyme-labeled lectin, inhibited binding of the latter to ovalbumin. Bound enzyme activity was colorimetrically determined after addition of o-phenylenediamine. Relative lectin affinity (KL) was expressed as (formula; see text) in which [X]50% is the concentration of sample receptor necessary to inhibit 50% of the binding of a certain amount of lectin, and [M]50% is the concentration of D-mannose necessary to inhibit 50% binding of the same amount of lectin. With this technique lectin affinity of both monovalent and polyvalent lectin binding substances can be estimated: low KL values mean high lectin affinity.     

Purification and Partial Characterization of a Lectin from Phaseolus vulgaris

A method is presented for the isolation of a lectin from a Brazilian cultivar of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), through extraction in acidic (pH 4.2) medium, fractionation with ammonium sulfate, and chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The lectin was shown to be homogeneous by gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing.     

黄精凝集素Ⅱ的纯化及部分性质研究

囊丝黄精（ＰｏｌｙｇｏｎａｔｕｍｃｙｒｔｏｎｅｍａＨｕａ．）的根状茎,经浸取、用硫酸铵分级沉淀、猪甲状腺球蛋白－Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ４Ｂ柱亲和层析、ＣＭ－Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ柱离子交换层析和ＳｅｐｈａｄｅｘＧ－１００凝胶过滤,可以分离纯化出黄精凝集素Ⅱ（ＰＣＬⅡ）．纯化的ＰＣＬⅡ在聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳中显示单一蛋白染色带;在快速高效液相色谱中亦为单一蛋白峰,经分子筛层析测得分子量为１５．９ｋＤ,最大紫外吸收值在２７８ｎｍ,ＰＣＬⅡ只凝集兔红细胞,当浓度为０．２５μｇ／ｍｌ时,即可发生凝集反应,此凝集兔红细胞的能力可被Ｄ－甘露糖和猪甲状腺球蛋白所抑制．氨基酸组成分析表明ＰＣＬⅡ分子中富含酸性氨基酸,Ｎ末端为丙氨酸．经测定ＰＣＬⅡ分子中含有３个色氨酸和２．４％的中性糖．原子发射光谱分析表明,该凝集素分子中含有Ｍｇ和Ｃａ两种金属元素．     

Sequential Extraction Results in Improved Proteome Profiling of Medicinal Plant Pinellia ternata Tubers,Which Contain Large Amounts of High-Abundance Proteins

Pinellia ternata tuber is one of the well-known Chinese traditional medicines. In order to understand the pharmacological properties of tuber proteins, it is necessary to perform proteome analysis of P. ternata tubers. However, a few high-abundance proteins (HAPs), mainly mannose-binding lectin (agglutinin), exist in aggregates of various sizes in the tubers and seriously interfere with proteome profiling by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE). Therefore, selective depletion of these HAPs is a prerequisite for enhanced proteome analysis of P. ternata tubers. Based on differential protein solubility, we developed a novel protocol involving two sequential extractions for depletion of some HAPs and prefractionation of tuber proteins prior to 2-DE. The first extraction using 10% acetic acid selectively extracted acid-soluble HAPs and the second extraction using the SDS-containing buffer extracted remaining acid-insoluble proteins. After application of the protocol, 2-DE profiles of P. ternata tuber proteins were greatly improved and more protein spots were detected, especially low-abundance proteins. Moreover, the subunit composition of P. ternata lectin was analyzed by electrophoresis. Native lectin consists of two hydrogen-bonded subunits (11 kDa and 25 kDa) and the 11 kDa subunit was a glycoprotein. Subsequently, major HAPs in the tubers were analyzed by mass spectrometry, with nine protein spots being identified as lectin isoforms. The methodology was easy to perform and required no specialized apparatus. It would be useful for proteome analysis of other tuber plants of Araceae.     

Isolation and properties of a lectin from the seeds of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth).

The lectin of the seeds of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth), which selectively binds murine cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, was purified by simple affinity-chromatographic procedures on two different N-acetyl-alpha-D-galactosaminyl-carriers. The lectin thus obtained is homogeneous on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis both in acid and alkaline media and has a mol. wt. of approx. 120000. The lectin molecule appears to comprise four subunits of equal electrophoretic mobility, contains 4.3% of covalently bound neutral sugar and 0.72 Mn and 0.94 Zn atoms respectively. The anti-(blood-group A1) specific erythroagglutinating activity of the lectin can be detected at a limit concentration of 15 microgram/ml and is inhibitable most effectively by N-acetyl-D-galactosamine.