title: Banana lectin: a brief review.
abstract: Lectins are a group of proteins of non-immune origin that recognize and bind to carbohydrates without modifying them. Banana is the common name for both herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. They are indeed a promising source for many medicinal applications. Banana lectins have the potential for inhibiting HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity, suppressing cancer cell proliferation and stimulating macrophage activities. Nevertheless, compared to other plant lectins, there is relatively little information in the literature on banana lectins, particularly with respect to their structure and biological functions. Herein we focus our review on the structure, functions and exploitable properties of banana lectins.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Protein Biochemistry, Biochemistry Department, Manipur University, Canchipur, Imphal 795003, India. sunil_senjam@rediffmail.com.
authors.forename: Senjam Sunil
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Protein Biochemistry, Biochemistry Department, Manipur University, Canchipur, Imphal 795003, India. kdsanjenbam@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sanjenbam Kunjeshwori
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Devi
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China. b021770@mailserv.cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Tzi Bun
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D028521:Musa / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D037121:Plant Lectins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D037121:Plant Lectins