Isolation and partial characterization of giraffine, a lectin from the Mexican endemic alga Codium giraffa Silva

A lectin from the alga Codium giraffa, reported as an endemic species of Me xico, was purified by a combination of ammonium sulfate fractionation, affi nity and anion exchange chromatographies. Giraffine, as we called this lect in, shares some characteristics with other lectins isolated from the same g enus. It is a monomeric protein with a relative molecular weight of 17,800, srs shown by native and SDS-PAGE and confirmed by mass spectrometry; its i soelectric point was 6.4 and it did not show multiple molecular forms. The agglutinating activity of this lectin was inhibited with low concentrations of N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine and was independent of di valent cations.