Single step purification, characterization and N-terminal sequences of a mannose specific lectin from mulberry seeds.

A mannose/glucose specific lectin have been isolated and purified from mulberry seeds by affinity chromatography on ConA Sepharose. The lectin is monomer in nature as judged by SDS-PAGE and its MW was estimated to be 22,000. The lectin is glycoprotein with neutral sugar content of 28.57%, and mannose and glucose were identified as carbohydrate. The lectin agglutinated rat red blood cells and in a hapten inhibition test, D: -mannose and D: -glucose was found to be inhibitor. The lectin also exhibited cytotoxic effect in brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The N-terminal sequences of the lectin upto 45-residues except the positions of 21, 39, 42 and 44 were identified. Sequence homology of the lectin is also discussed.