Electron-microscopic analysis of ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria L.) lectin: evidence for a new type of supra-molecular protein structure.

The lectin of ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria L.) was investigated electron-microscopically after negative staining with uranyl salts. Affinity-purified preparations of this glycoprotein were highly heteromorphous as they contained small particles approximately 4.6 nm in diameter and very large particles of different shapes. Among the latter, circular and helicoidal structures were the most regular in appearance. The circles were 9.3 nm in diameter, whereas the helices were 9 nm or 20 nm in diameter and up to 60 nm in length. After photographic enhancement, pictures of the molecules indicated that both the larger structures and the small particles could be obtained in pure forms by gel filtration of the lectin on Sepharose 4B. Since the former were the only constituents of the excluded fraction (Mr>5000000), whereas they were totally absent in the fraction eluting with an apparent molecular weight of about 500000, these supra-molecular structures revealed by the electron microscope cannot be artefacts generated during preparation of the lectin for electron-microscopic observation.