Influence of germination on lectin in Lens culinaris seeds

The effect of germination conditions on the lectin of Lens culinaris var. M agda 20 seeds was studied. The seeds were germinated at 20 degrees C under different conditions of watering and light and for different periods of tim e. The seed lectin was assayed by haemagglutination and quantified by compe titive ELISA. Changes in lectin content during germination were also monito red by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting. Haemagglutinating activity and lectin c ontent in the seeds were not changed during the first three days regardless of the conditions of the germination. However. lectin concentration was si gnificantly higher after six days of germination; relative lectin levels be ing particularly high when germination was carried out in the light and wit h daily watering. The results of SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting have also show n that the lectin was not degraded during the first six days of germination however, other storage-proteins were broken down by proteolysis.