Purification and partial characterisation of the lectin from the marine red alga Enantiocladia duperreyi (C. Agardh) Falkenberg

The marine red alga Enantiocladia duperreyi has been shown to contain a lectin which was isolated by a combination of ammonium sulphate preciptation, ion-exchange chromatography on DEAF-Cellulose and affinity chromatography on alpha-lactose-agarose. The lectin preferentially agglutinated human blood group O erythrocytes and was inhibited by the simple sugars fucose, galactose and their derivatives and by the glycoprotein porcine stomach mucin. The molecular weight (MW) of E. duperreyi lectin, determined by gel filtration was 24 700, while SDS-PAGE exhibited one single protein band with MW of 16 072. The lectin was stable at variations of temperature and the activation energy of the inactivation process was calculated to be 24.05 Kcal mol(-1).