The Concanavalin A agglutinating system of cell membranes

The hopes raised by the finding of differential Concanavalin A (Con A) agglutinability of normal and transformed cells in efforts to quantify differences between these cell lines seem not to have been justified. In this paper, the development of information on the mechanism of action of Con A on the cell surface, as well as the theories put forward at each stage of this development are surveyed. In this respect, investigations on Con A constitute a case history in biological research. The involvement of glycoproteins and galactosyltransferases in cell-cell interactions and their relations to Con A are also reviewed.