Identification and purification of an endogenous receptor for the lectin pallidin from Polysphondylium pallidum

We report the identification and purification of an endogenous carbohydrate-containing receptor of pallidin, the cell surface lectin implicated in mediating cell-cell adhesion in the cellular slime mold Polysphondylium pallidum. The receptor is identified in an aqueous extract of crude P. pallidum membranes as a potent inhibitor of the hemagglutination activity of pallidin. The inhibitor is purified to apparent homogeneity by affinity precipitation with pallidin followed by fractionation of the solubilized precipitate on Sepharose 4B. The hemagglutination inhibitor (HAI) is metabolically radiolabeled, indicating that it is a biosynthetic product of the amoebae and not an ingested food substance. The HAI is released into the extracellular medium by living, differentiated amoebae. This release is markedly facilitated by the addition of D-galactose, a specific saccharide that binds to pallidin. Hence, the HAI appears to have an in situ association with pallidin at the cell surface. Exogenously added HAI promotes the agglutination of differentiated amoebae in a gyrated suspension at very low concentrations. The results are consistent with a model of cell-cell adhesion in which the HAI is a multivalent, extracellular aggregation factor that is recognized by pallidin molecules on adjacent cells. The HAI would then be analogues to the aggregation factors identified in marine sponges.