Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Samsun NN) leaves accumulate a cytoplasmic/nuclear lectin, called Nictaba, in response to methyl jasmonate. To check whether, and if so to what extent, the specific induction of this lectin applies to related species, a collection of 19 Nicotiana species--covering 12 Nicotiana sections and eight Nicotiana tabacum cultivars--was screened for their capability to s...

A total of 393 clinical bacterial isolates were tested for their ability to agglutinate yeast cells of either Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Candida albicans. A positive agglutination of yeasts that could be prevented by methyl alpha-D-mannoside was taken as an indication for the possible presence of a mannose-specific lectin (carbohydrate-binding protein) on the surface of the tested bacteria. Ag...

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a serum collectin believed to be of importance in innate immunity. We have investigated the role of MBL in the first-line defense against Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen. MBL bound C. albicans via its lectin domain, resulting in agglutination of the organisms upon their outgrowth of hyphae. In a human in vitro MBL system, deposition of C4 fragm...

Sexual selection favors strategies that enhance the fertilization chances of sperm donors, and sexual conflict can ensue when these adaptations negatively affect sperm recipients (Arnqvist and Rowe 2005). Such conflict often causes counteradaptive coevolution that can result in bizarre mating behaviors in separate-sex (Arnqvist and Rowe 2005) and hermaphroditic species (Michiels and Newman 1998...

The agglutinating properties of a crude gluten digest, purified gliadin fractions and established plant lectins were investigated using mammalian erythrocytes, rat enterocytes and normal and coeliac human enterocytes as the target systems. Gliadin preparations failed to cause agglutination of any of the cells tested, whereas established pure plant lectins were active cell agglutinins. These stu...

Ten Penicillium sp. were screened for lectin activity for occurrence of lectins. Mycelial extracts from submerged cultures of P. corylophilum, P. expansum and P. purpurogenum showed agglutination against human (A, B, AB and O), goat, sheep, pig and rabbit erythrocytes. Neuraminidase treatment to human blood- type O erythrocytes substantially increased their agglutinability by all the lectins as...

We have examined the agglutination of Sindbis virus and of chick and hamster cells infected with Sindbis virus by two of the plant lectins, concanavalin A and Ricinus communis agglutinin. Both lectins agglutinate the virus by binding to the polysaccharide chains of the envelope glycoproteins. Both chick and hamster cells exhibit increased agglutination by the lectins after infection by Sindbis ...

Several taxa of pulmonate land snails exhibit a conspicuous mating behaviour, the shooting of so-called love darts. During mating, such land snail species stab a mating partner with a mucus-coated dart. It has previously been shown that the sperm donor physiologically influences the sperm recipient via the mucus covering the dart and thereby decreases the number of sperm digested by the recipie...