IDENTIFICATION OF AMINO-GROUPS IN THE CARBOHYDRATE-BINDING ACTIVITY OF WINGED BEAN ACIDIC AGGLUTININ

Chemical modification studies reveal that the modification of amino gr oups in WBA II leads to a complete loss in the hemagglutinating and sa ccharide binding activities. Since WBA II is a dimeric molecule and co ntains two binding sites, one amino group in each of the binding sites is inferred to be essential for its activity. The presence of amino g roup which has a potential to form hydrogen bonded interactions with t he ligand, substantiates our observation regarding the forces involved in WBA II-receptor and WBA II-simple sugar interactions.