Lectin activity in fruiting bodies of the edible mushroom Tricholoma mongolicum

This study was undertaken to ascertain the existence and some of the characteristics of lectin in the fruiting bodies of the edible mushroom Tricholoma mongolicum. The fractionation procedure utilized entailed aqueous extraction, (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, dialysis, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. A similar procedure has been successfully employed for isolating lectins from cultured mycelia of the same species. It was found that the fruiting body lectin could not be purified with the same facility as the mycelial lectins. Although lectins from both fruiting bodies and cultured mycelia were adsorbed on DEAE-Sepharose and possessed similar carbohydrate specificities, the fruiting body lectin was adsorbed on ConA-Sepharose and hence probably glycoprotein in nature whereas the mycelial lectins are unglycosylated proteins.