Purification, properties, and crystallographic data for a principal nontoxic lectin from seeds of Abrus precatorius

Nontoxic abrus lectin has been prepared by a new purification procedure. The method is accomplished by 45% saturation ammonium sulfate fractionation from a 5% acetic acid extract of the seeds of Abrus precatorius followed by diethylaminoethyl-Sephadex A-50 and Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography. The abrus lectin appeared homogeneous as judged by electrophoresis, analytical ultracentrifugation, and isoelectric focusing. The lectin molecule has a weight of 126,000 as determined by sedimentation equilibrium. It is composed of four subunits, of which two pairs have either identical or closely similar molecular sizes (33,800 and 32,200 daltons) as revealed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The results of amino acid analyses are given; none of the cysteic acid appears to arise from cysteine. An electrofocusing experiment indicated the isoelectric point to be 5.0. Crystals large enough for x-ray investigation were obtained by a vapor diffusion technique. X-ray precession photographs revealed that abrus lectin crystallizes in a tetragonal unit cell of symmetry P41212 and dimensions a = 140 and c = 210 A. The asymmetric unit contains 2 protein molecules of molecular weight 126,000 and has a solvent content of approximately 41% by volume.