Purification and characterization of a galactose-binding lectin from the skin mucus of the conger eel Conger myriaster.

1. A galactose-binding lectin was purified from the skin mucus of the conger eel Conger myriaster by affinity chromatography and HPLC. 2. The lectin was a simple protein having the same two subunits with a mol. wt of 12,500 and a N-terminal amino acid of phenylalanine. 3. Electrofocusing suggested that the purified lectin was composed of several isolectins. 4. From the ultraviolet difference spectra attributable to tryptophanyl residues in the binding site, the binding constant of the lectin for D-galactose was estimated to be 5.3 x 10(3)/M.