title: Isolation and characterization of a bioactive mannose-binding protein from the Chinese chive Allium tuberosum.
abstract: A mannose-binding protein was isolated from two different cultivars of the Chinese chive Allium tuberosum by extraction with 0.2 M NaCl, ammonium sulfate precipitation, and affinity chromatography on mannose agarose and fetuin agarose. It exhibited hemagglutinating activity toward rabbit erythrocytes. The lectin (agglutinin) was adsorbed on the mannose-agarose column, but not on the fetuin-agarose column. This A. tuberosum lectin (ATL) is unglycosylated, and not sialic acid binding. Lectins isolated from the two cultivars exhibited the same molecular mass of 25 kDa on gel filtration (Superose 12) and 12.5 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, indicating that they might be a dimeric protein composed of two identical subunits. The N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis of the lectin of various cultivars of A. tuberosum revealed that they were identical and showed 50%, or more, homology to the lectins from Galanthus nivalis (family Amaryllidaceae), Narcissus tazetta (family Amaryllidaceae), and Aloe arborescenes (family Liliaceae).
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Linda S M
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Ooi
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chun-Mei
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Samuel S M
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Vincent E C
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Ooi
mesh_terms: D000490:Allium / Q000737:chemistry*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D037222:Collectins; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D008358:Mannose; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D012685:Sepharose
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D037222:Collectins; D012685:Sepharose; D008358:Mannose