CRYSTALLIZATION AND PRELIMINARY-X-RAY STUDIES ON THE LECTIN FROM THE SEEDS OF CRATYLIA-MOLLIS

The lectin from the seeds of Cratylia mollis shows strong binding to h uman malignant cancerous tissues, particularly those from many glands, uterus, rectum and brain. The C. mollis lectin has been crystallized using the hanging-drop method with polyethylene glycol 6000 as a preci pitant. Two different crystal forms were grown from the same drops and they belong to space groups I222 and P2(1)2(1)2(1), respectively. The cell parameters obtained were a = 63.26 (4), b = 77.45 (8) and c = 10 5.22 (8) Angstrom, for the I222 form, and a = 88.83 (5), b = 183.24 (9 ) and c = 61.70 (2) Angstrom for the P2(1)2(1)2(1) crystals. The solut ion of both structures is currently being attempted by means of molecu lar replacement techniques.