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Isolation and characterization of a jacalin-related mannose-binding lectin from salt-stressed rice (Oryza sativa)
W Zhang1, W J Peumans, A Barre
1Laboratory for Phytopathology and Plant Protection, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract:
A novel plant lectin was isolated from salt-stressed rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants and partially characterized. The lectin occurs as a natural mixture of two closely related isoforms consisting of two identical non-covalently linked subunits of 15 kDa. Both isoforms are best inhibited by mannose and exhibit potent mitogenic activity towards T-lymphocytes. Biochemical analyses and sequence comparisons further revealed that the rice lectins belong to the subgroup of mannose-binding jacalin-related lectins. In addition, it could be demonstrated that the lectins described here correspond to the protein products of previously described salt-stress-induced genes. Our results not only identify the rice lectin as a stress protein but also highlight the possible importance of protein-carbohydrate interactions in stress responses in plants.