Pollen hemagglutinating activity is not related to lectin

We purified a hemagglutinating substance from pollen extracts to electrophoretic homogeneity. The hemagglutinating activity of this substance was inhibited by positively charged substances but not by the monosaccharides known as inhibitors of the lectin activity. The hemagglutinating substance appeared to be negatively charged in the pH conditions of the hemagglutinating assay, suggesting that hemagglutination was due to an electrostatic interaction with positively charged components of the erythrocytes. Preliminary chemical analysis suggests that the hemagglutinating substance is a proteoglycan.