Circular dichroism studies of cobalt substituted lentil lectin

A recent method has been developed to effect metal ion substitution at the Mn2+ site in the lentil lectin (Bhattacharyya et al. (1984) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 124, 857-862). We report here the preparation of cobalt substituted lentil lectin, containing Co2+ at the S1 site and Ca2+ at the S2 site. The cobalt derivative possesses full saccharide binding activity and can be used for spectroscopic studies. The near UV and visible CD spectra of the derivative are shown, and its spectral properties are compared with various cobalt complexes of concanavalin A.