Highly specifi c hemagglutination activity of plant lectins in specific species: case of Fabaceae and Solanaceae

MUHAMED FOČAK, DAMIR SULJEVIĆ, NAĐA ZUBČEVIĆ

Abstract: Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins present in most of the plants and in some animals. They possess the ability to agglutinate erythrocytes with known carbohydrate specifi city since they have at least one non-catalytic domain that binds reversibly specifi c monosaccharides or oligosaccharides. This study investigated the presence of lectins in the plant species of the family Fabaceae and Solanaceae. The results of our study have shown that 6 of 10 plant lectins caused agglutination, and 4 of them did not cause agglutination of human erythrocytes. Blood agglutination activity against A, B, AB and 0 groups was shown after exposing blood to lectin extracts obtained from 80% of tested plants in family Fabaceae, and 20% of tested plants in family Solanaceae. The highest degree of agglutination was obtained in Phaseolus vulgaris (+4) and the highest protein concentration was obtained in Lens esculenta within the family Fabaceae. There was no statistically signifi cant difference for protein concentration and specifi c lectin activity between two compared families (p>0.05).

Keywords: agglutination activity; agglutination degree; blood groups; plant lectins; protein content

Date published: 2018-06-12