ABSTRACT
Extracts of Wistaria floribunda seeds contain separable erythroagglutinating and lymphocyte mitogenic activities. We wish to report the purification and characterization of the erythroagglutinating lectin of these seeds. A phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) extract of the ground seeds was made to 50% ethanol and the precipitate, which contained both the agglutinin and mitogen, was dissolved in PBS. The erythroagglutinating activity was adsorbed onto insoluble polyleycyl derivatized A + H active hog gastric mucin. After desorption with 0.2 M D-galactose and removal of the sugar by dialysis, the eluate displayed three protein bands on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The major component represented 85% of the mixture. Immunoelectrophoresis of the mixture demonstrated immunochemical identity among the proteins. Gel filtration through Sephadex G-200 resulted in purification of the major component. Based upon the composition and subunit molecular weight, it was concluded that the three components represent a dimer, tetramer, and octamer of a single glycopolypeptide chain of 28 000. The erythroagglutinin has a pI at pH 5.4 and one cystine per dimeric unit.
