title: Lectin activity in mycelial extracts of Fusarium species.
abstract: Lectins are non-immunogenic carbohydrate-recognizing proteins that bind to glycoproteins, glycolipids, or polysaccharides with high affinity and exhibit remarkable ability to agglutinate erythrocytes and other cells. In the present study, ten Fusarium species previously not explored for lectins were screened for the presence of lectin activity. Mycelial extracts of F. fujikuroi, F. beomiformii, F. begoniae, F. nisikadoi, F. anthophilum, F. incarnatum, and F. tabacinum manifested agglutination of rabbit erythrocytes. Neuraminidase treatment of rabbit erythrocytes increased lectin titers of F. nisikadoi and F. tabacinum extracts, whereas the protease treatment resulted in a significant decline in agglutination by most of the lectins. Results of hapten inhibition studies demonstrated unique carbohydrate specificity of Fusarium lectins toward O-acetyl sialic acids. Activity of the majority of Fusarium lectins exhibited binding affinity to d-ribose, l-fucose, d-glucose, l-arabinose, d-mannitol, d-galactosamine hydrochloride, d-galacturonic acid, N-acetyl-d-galactosamine, N-acetyl-neuraminic acid, 2-deoxy-d-ribose, fetuin, asialofetuin, and bovine submaxillary mucin. Melibiose and N-glycolyl neuraminic acid did not inhibit the activity of any of the Fusarium lectins. Mycelial extracts of F. begoniae, F. nisikadoi, F. anthophilum, and F. incarnatum interacted with most of the carbohydrates tested. F. fujikuroi and F. anthophilum extracts displayed strong interaction with starch. The expression of lectin activity as a function of culture age was investigated. Most species displayed lectin activity on the 7th day of cultivation, and it varied with progressing of culture age.
authors.affiliation: Carbohydrate and Protein Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Ranjeeta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhari
authors.affiliation: Carbohydrate and Protein Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Bhawanpreet
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Carbohydrate and Protein Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India. Electronic address: rssingh11@lycos.com.
authors.forename: Ram S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D005670:Fusarium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D006384:Hemagglutination; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D025282:Mycelium
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins
keywords: Carbohydrate specificity; Culture age; Fusarium; Hemagglutination; Lectin