Crystallization and characterization of an inflammatory lectin purified from the seeds of Dioclea wilsonii

Molecules. 2011 Jun 20;16(6):5087-103. doi: 10.3390/molecules16065087.

Abstract

DwL, a lectin extracted from the seeds of Dioclea wilsonii, is a metalloprotein with strong agglutinating activity against rabbit and ABO erythrocytes, inhibited by glucose and mannose. DwL was purified by affinity chromatography on a Sephadex G-50 column and ion exchange chromatography on a HiTrap SP XL column. SDS-PAGE revealed three electrophoretic bands corresponding to the α (25,634 ± 2 Da), β (12,873 ± 2 Da) and γ (12,779 ± 2 Da) chains. Protein sequencing was done by Tandem Mass Spectrometry. The primary sequence featured 237 amino acids and was highly homologous to other reported Diocleinae lectins. A complete X-ray dataset was collected at 2.0 Å for X-Man-complexed DWL crystals produced by the vapor diffusion method. The crystals were orthorhombic and belonged to the space group I222, with the unit-cell parameters a = 59.6, b = 67.9 and c = 109.0 Å. DWL differed in potency from other ConA-like lectins and was found to induce neutrophil migration in rats, making it particularly useful in structural/functional studies of this class of proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Cell Movement / drug effects
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Crystallization
  • Dioclea / chemistry*
  • Erythrocytes / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Inflammation Mediators / chemistry*
  • Inflammation Mediators / isolation & purification
  • Inflammation Mediators / pharmacology
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Neutrophils / drug effects
  • Plant Lectins / chemistry*
  • Plant Lectins / isolation & purification
  • Plant Lectins / pharmacology
  • Protein Stability
  • Rabbits
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Seeds / chemistry*
  • Sequence Alignment

Substances

  • Inflammation Mediators
  • Plant Lectins