Legume Lectins: Proteins with Diverse Applications
نویسندگان
چکیده
Lectins are a diverse class of proteins distributed extensively in nature. Among these proteins; legume lectins display a variety of interesting features including antimicrobial; insecticidal and antitumor activities. Because lectins recognize and bind to specific glycoconjugates present on the surface of cells and intracellular structures; they can serve as potential target molecules for developing practical applications in the fields of food; agriculture; health and pharmaceutical research. This review presents the current knowledge of the main structural characteristics of legume lectins and the relationship of structure to the exhibited specificities; provides an overview of their particular antimicrobial; insecticidal and antitumor biological activities and describes possible applications based on the pattern of recognized glyco-targets.
منابع مشابه
Lectins: Proteins with Diverse Applications
Article history: Received on: 12/04/2013 Revised on: 23/04/2013 Accepted on: 04/05/2013 Available online: 12/05/2013 Lectins are proteins that bind to carbohydrates and sugar containing substances in a specific and reversible way or precipitate glycoconjugates. These heterogeneous class of carbohydrate-binding proteins or glycoproteins of non-immune origin are capable of specific recognition of...
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