Glycoprotein lectins

Lectin affinity chromatography may be used to purify a range of glycoproteins. Lectins are a group of proteins synthesized by plants, vertebrates and a number of invertebrate species. Especially high levels of lectins are produced by a variety of plant seeds. Plant lectins are often termed... 

Suitable pairs of protein and ligand combination for affinity chromatography are antigen-antibody, hormone-receptor, glycoprotein-lectin or enzyme-substrate/cofactor/ effector (Table 3.6). The affinity of lectins for specific carbohydrate moieties (Lis and Sharon, 1973 Barondes, 1981) has made them particularly useful for the purification of distinct groups of glycans and glycoproteins (Table 3.7). 

Lectins are proteins that reversibly bind monosaccharides, polysaccharides, or sugar residues from glycoproteins. Lectins differ in their sugar specificity, their construction, and in the cofactors necessary for binding the sugar. Lectins that are covalently coupled to matrices are popular affinity materials and are available in retail (Table 5.5). Their specificity is shown in Table 9.1. 

Ali, M. Ramirez, R Tahir, M. N. Mafe, S. Siwy, Z. Neumann, R. Tremel,W. Ensinger, W. Biomolecular conjugation inside synthetic polymer nanopores via glycoprotein-lectin interactions. Nanoscale 2011, 3, 1894-1903. 

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