Lectin Binding Analysis of Streptococcus mutans Glycoproteins.

Bacterial glycoproteins are of increasing interest due to their abundance in nature and importance in health and infectious diseases. However, only a very small fraction of bacterial glycoproteins have been characterized and its post-translational modification machinery identified. While analysis of glycoproteins can be achieved through various techniques, this is often limited by the specific characteristics of individual proteins such as type and level of glycosylation. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins that recognize specific glycoconjugates in a manner similar to antigen-antibody interactions. Here, we describe a simple method for the detection of glycoproteins using lectin-based Western blot analysis, which can be applied to different organisms and coupled with various other strategies for complementary analysis.