Comparative studies of new marker lectins for alkali-labile and alkali-stable carbohydrate chains in glycoproteins

Abstract

1. 1. Three new lectins, obtained from the Indian Jack fruit Artocarpus integrifolia, the Betelnut Areca catechu and the sponge Geodia were studied with respect to their haemagglutination pattern with various normal and enzyme-treated red cells and with special regard to their precipitin reactions with different glycosubstances. 2. 2. In comparative studies with a large number of neuraminidase-treated human serum glycoproteins and glycosubstances of other origins it was found, that the reaction of the Jack fruit lectin shows a striking similarity with the lectin from the mushroom Agaricus bisporus. 3. 3. Whereas these two lectins react with the alkali-labile chain of the Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF) Type (3-0-β- d-galactosyl-N-acetyl- d-galactosamine) in serum and other glycoproteins, in a similar, but not identical way as the anti-TF peanut lectin, the ones from Geodia and Betelnut combine in different ways with the alkali-stable carbohydrate structures in glycoproteins.