title: Fungal galectins, sequence and specificity of two isolectins from Coprinus cinereus.
abstract: Galectins are members of a genetically related family of beta-galactoside-binding lectins. At least eight distinct mammalian galectins have been identified. More distantly related, but still conserving amino acid residues critical for carbohydrate-binding, are galectins in chicken, eel, frog, nematode, and sponge. Here we report that galectins are also expressed in a species of fungus, the inky cap mushroom, Coprinus cinereus. Two dimeric galectins are expressed during fruiting body formation which are 83% identical to each other in amino acid sequence and conserve all key residues shared by members of the galectin family. Unlike most galectins, these have no N-terminal post-translational modification and no cysteine residues. We expressed one of these as a recombinant protein and studied its carbohydrate-binding specificity using a novel nonradioactive assay. Binding specificity has been well studied for a number of other galectins, and like many of these, the recombinant C. cinereus galectin shows particular affinity for blood group A structures. These results demonstrate not only that the galectin gene family is evolutionarily much older than previously realized but also that fine specificity for complex saccharide structures has been conserved. Such conservation implies that galectins evolved to perform very basic cellular functions, presumably by interaction with glycoconjugates bearing complex lactoside carbohydrates resembling blood group A.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anatomy and Psychiatry, Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0984, USA. cooper@cgl.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Boulianne
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Charlton
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sucher
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D003302:Coprinus / Q000737:chemistry*; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D037501:Galectin 2; D037161:Galectins; D006001:Glycoconjugates / Q000378:metabolism; D037102:Lectins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: C103750:CGL1 protein, Coprinus cinereus; C103751:CGL2 protein, Coprinus cinereus; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D037501:Galectin 2; D037161:Galectins; D006001:Glycoconjugates; D037102:Lectins