Abstract
It has been hypothesized that plant lectins playa role in the defense of the plant from fungal and insect attack. Several insects species have been shown to be sensitive to lectins. However, the mechanism by which lectins exert their insecticidal activity is unknown. The results presented in this article compare the insecticidal activity of lectins with their apparent ability to bind to brush border membrane proteins of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner, and Western com root worm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera Le-Conte. Lectins that caused significant mortality or a decrease in weight gain in O. nubilalis also bound strongly to O. nubilalis brush border membrane proteins, but not all lectins that bound strongly were insecticidal. Relationships between binding and mortality were less consistent in D. virgifera virgifera.
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