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Leaves of the Lamiaceae species Glechoma hederacea (ground ivy) contain a lectin that is structurally and evolutionary related to the legume lectins
Author(s) -
Wang Weifang,
Peumans Willy J.,
Rougé Pierre,
Rossi Claire,
Proost Paul,
Chen Jianping,
Van Damme Els J. M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-313x.2003.01623.x
Subject(s) - biology , lamiaceae , botany , legume , lectin , biochemistry
Summary A novel lectin has been isolated and cloned from leaves of Glechoma hederacea (ground ivy), a typical representative of the plant family Lamiaceae. Biochemical analyses indicated that the G. hederacea agglutinin (Gleheda) is a tetrameric protein consisting of four subunits pairwise linked through an interchain disulphide bridge and exhibits a preferential specificity towards N ‐acetylgalactosamine. Cloning of the corresponding gene and molecular modeling of the deduced sequence demonstrated that Gleheda shares high sequence similarity with the legume lectins and exhibits the same overall fold and three‐dimensional structure as the classical legume lectins. The identification of a soluble and active legume lectin ortholog in G. hederacea not only indicates that the yet unclassified Lamiaceae lectins belong to the same lectin family as the legume lectins, but also sheds a new light on the specificity, physiological role and evolution of the classical legume lectins.