|
Wisteria Floribunda lectin is a 116,000 to 125,000 molecular weight glycoprotein with an isoelectric point of pH 5.4. Two subunits of about 60,000 daltons are produced in SDS gels, dissociating into 4 chains of about 30,000 daltons in the presence of reducing agents. The binding specificity is not completely clear but this lectin appears to preferentially bind carbohydrate structures terminating in N-acetylgalactosamine linked alpha or beta to the 3 or 6 position of galactose. Used to fractionate lymphocyte populations, the lectin although not mitogenic, elicits the production of lymphokines from murine splenocytes (references available upon request).
Agarose bound* Wisteria Floribunda Lectin is prepared from affinity-purified lectin. Heat stable, cross-linked 4% agarose beads with a molecular weight exclusion limit of about 2x107 are used as the solid-phase matrix to which the lectin is covalently bound. The attachment of the lectin to the solid phase is carefully controlled in order to preserve the activity of the lectin as well as to minimize conformational changes of the bound lectin which might result in nonspecific ionic or hydrophobic interactions. |