Binding of Radioactively Labelled Concanavalin A and Wheat Germ Agglutinin to Normal and Virus-transformed Cells

VARIOUS substances isolated from plants cause animal cells to clump. Several of these lectins¹ preferentially agglutinate cells which have been transformed spontaneously or by chemicals or viruses^2–7. The best known lectins of this class are concanavalin A (Con A) isolated from jack beans⁸ and wheat germ agglutinin⁴, which seem to bind to carbohydrate groups on the cell surface. The determinants recognized by the lectins seem to be N-acetyl-D-glucosamine for WGA⁴ and probably α-methyl-D-glucopyranoside for Con A⁶.