CHARACTERIZATION AND LOCALIZATION OF BETA-LECTINS IN LOWER AND HIGHER-PLANTS

Abstract

The presence of a class of arabinogalactan proteins, known as β-lectins, as detected by their interaction with the Yariv antigen, has been extended from earlier work (Jermyn and Yeow 1975) to include a number of lower plants. A comparison is made of the amino acid and carbohydrate composition of β-lectins isolated from green leaves and seeds from a number of species. The protein content of the isolated β-lectins from leaves has a range of 3-8%, while those examined from seeds have a more variable protein content. The amino acid compositions of the β-lectins from both leaves and seeds are generally similar, usually with high levels of serine, glycine, alanine and hydroxyproline. The monosacch..