EVALUATION OF HAEMAGGLUTINATION POTENTIALS OF LECTIN ISOLATED FROM ORDEAL TREE (ERYTHROPHLEUM SUAVEOLENS) STEM BARK

Abstract

Lectin from Erythrophleum suaveolens stem ba rk was partially purified and evaluated in terms of its haemagglutination activity. Ground, dried stem bark of Erythrophleum suaveolens was extracted by aqueous method and the protein extract was concentrated in 20 - 90 % saturation. The ammonium sulfate pre cipitate was subjected to gel filtration chromatography using Sephadex G - 75 resin a nd fractions were tested for hae mag g lutination activity. The two fractions obtained with the highest hemmaglutinating activity were further subjected separately to ion - excha nge chromatography using Sp Sephadex C - 50 resin. I solated lectins were found to agglutinate chicken er ythrocytes; fractions from gel filtration chromatography showed haemagglutinating activity of 0.1 HU/µL and 0.091 HU/µL, while the ion exchange fractions showed haemagglutinating activity of 0.05 HU/µL and all were stable at the temperature range of 30 - 60 0 C and pH range of 3 - 7. The carbohydrate content of the crude extract, Gel I, Gel II, Ion I and Ion II fractions were 0.04 %, 0.04 %, 0.03 %, 0.02 %, respe ctively. The crude and purified lectins inhibited agglutination in the p resence of mannose and N acetyl - glucoseamine sugars and showed five bands at positions 38kDa, 28k Da, 26kDa, 11kDa and 9kDa on a SDS - PAGE electrophoregram.