TOXIC AND NONTOXIC LECTINS FROM ABRUS PRECATORIUS AND RICINUS COMMUNIS

Abstract

Toxic and nontoxic lectins were purified from seed kernels of Abrus precatorius and Ricinus communis with Sepharose 4B affinity column chromatography followed by gel filtration with a Sephadex G–100 column. Lectins were reduced with 5% mercaptoethanol and then separated with a Sepharose 4B column into A and B subunits. The tryptic maps of B subunits of toxic and nontoxic lectins isolated from Abrus precatorius or Ricinus communis are very similar while those of A subunits are quite different.The binding character of toxic and nontoxic lectins on Ehrlich ascites tumor cells is similar, and they probably use the same receptors.