A monomeric protein with hemagglutinating activity from seeds of Vigna mungo (Phaseolus mungo)

Black gram (Vigna mungo) seeds are shown to contain a lectin with certain unusual features. The lectin agglutinates only trypsinized red cells, and its sugar specificity is complex as none of the common sugars, oligosaccharides or complex polysaccharides exhibit any affinity for the lectin. The purified lectin has a molecular weight of 58 kDa and is a monomer. Unlike other plant lectins, antibodies to the P. mungo lectin do not exhibit any immunological cross reactivity. The clot forming ability of the lectin is unusual in that the clot once formed is rapidly disaggregated indicated that it induces, as yet undefined, certain membrane alterations.