Mushrooms are famous for their nutritional and medicinal values and also for the diversity of bioactive compounds they contain including lectins. The present review is an attempt to summarize and discuss data available on molecular weights, structures, biological properties, N-terminal sequences and possible applications of lectins from edible mushrooms. It further aims to update and discuss/ex...

Histamine release induced by plant lectins was studied with emphasis on the carbohydrate specificity, external calcium requirement, metal binding sites, and mast cell heterogeneity and on the importance of antibodies bound to the mast cell membrane to the lectin effect. Peritoneal mast cells were obtained by direct lavage of the rat peritoneal cavity and guinea pig intestine and hamster cheek p...

Interaction of glucose/mannose-binding lectins in solution with immobilized glycoproteins was followed in real time using surface plasmon resonance technology. The lectins which share many biochemical and structural features could be clearly differentiated in terms of their specificity for complex glycoconjugates. The most prominent interaction of the lectins with PHA-E comparing with soybean a...

Lectins constitute a complex group of proteins found in different organisms. These proteins constitute an important field for research, as their structural diversity and affinity for several carbohydrates makes them suitable for numerous biological applications. This review addresses the classification and insecticidal activities of plant lectins, providing an overview of the applicability of t...

Two closely related lectins from bulbs of the Dutch iris (Iris hollandica var. Professor Blaauw) have been isolated and cloned. Both lectins, called Iris agglutinin b and Iris agglutinin r, possess N-glycosidase activity and share a high sequence similarity with previously described type 2 ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIP). However, these lectins show only 57% to 59% sequence identity to a p...

The sugar-binding specificities of C-type lectins isolated from marine invertebrates were investigated by frontal affinity chromatography (FAC) using 100 oligosaccharides. The lectins included BRA-2 and BRA-3, multiple lectins from the hemolymph of the acorn barnacle, Megabalanus rosa, and BRL from the acorn barnacle, Balanus rostatus. The diverse sugar-binding specificities of the C-type lecti...

Lectins extracted from corn (Zea mays L.) kernel with Tris-HCl buffer pH 7.5 were isolated from the crude extract by affinity chromatography on Sepharose 6B-N-acetyl-d-galactosamine and Sepharose 6B-methylalpha-d-mannoside, and also by lectin affinity chromatography using concanavalin A and Lens culinaris lectin as ligands. According to preferential monosaccharide specificity, salt-soluble lect...

Boronic acids are well known for their ability to reversibly interact with the diol groups, a common motif of biomolecules including sugars and ribose. Due to their ability to interact with carbohydrates, they can be regarded as synthetic mimics of lectins, termed 'borono-lectins'. The borono-lectins can be tailored to elicit a broad profile of binding strength and specificity. This special pro...

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 devel...