N-ACETYL-D-GALACTOSAMINE-SPECIFIC LECTINS FROM PHAEOLEPIOTA-AUREA

Two lectins, PAL-I and PAL-II, were isolated from the mushroom Phaeole piota aurea by affinity chromatography on acid-treated Sepharose CL-4B followed by reverse-phase FPLC on ProRPC. Both of the lectins were te tramers of 16 kDa subunits. The lectins had little agglutination activ ity against native erythrocytes but Pronase treatment of erythrocytes increased the sensitivity to agglutination by the lectins. Both lectin s exhibited slight preferences for type A compared with type B and O e rythrocytes. In haemagglutination inhibition assays, N-acetylgalactosa mine and both anomers of methyl N-acetylgalactosaminide were the best inhibitors.