EXPANDED BED CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR ONE-STEP PURIFICATION OF MANNOSE-BINDING LECTIN FROM TULIP BULBS USING MANNOSE IMMOBILIZED ON DEAE STREAMLINE

Expanded bed chromatography allows chromatographic separations to be p erformed starting from unclarified material. Aiming to purify from pla nts mannose binding lectins, which are valuable reagents, we evaluated expanded bed methodology using immobilized mannose as an affinity chr omatography support. Ligand was immobilized on DEAE Streamline, a matr ix which was commercially available but obviously primarily designed f or ion-exchange chromatography in expanded bed conditions. Nevertheles s through adjustments of mobile phase ionic strength, it was easy to p erform true biospecific affinity chromatography on this support and a single-step purification procedure for mannose binding lectins from un clarified tulip bulbs extract was devised. The cleaning in place proce dure allowed repeated use of the affinity column. This report seems to be the first article on proteins purification from plant material by expanded bed chromatography and gives another example supporting the c oncept that expanded bed methodology may be used with very selective a ffinity chromatography supports. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.