Expression of the Canavalia brasiliensis lectin (ConBr) in tobacco plants.

Tobacco plants were transformed with gene constructs encoding prepro-ConBr (Canavalia brasiliensis lectin). Transgenic plants confirmed by PCR expressed the recombinant protein as revealed by Western blot. However, the apparent molecular mass of the recombinant polypeptide (ca. 34 kDa) was higher than the native lectin (about 30 kDa), showing that further proteolytic processing of pro-ConBr was not detected.