Investigation of hemagglutinating activity in seeds of various Trichosanthes species (Family cucurbitaceae) and comparison of lectins isolated from seeds and tubers of Trichosanthes kirilowii

1. 1. Potent hemagglutinating activity was detected in seed extracts of 13 out of the 14 Trichosanthes species examined. T. pedata seed extract demonstrated the lowest hemagglutinating activity. 2. 2. d(+) galactose, d(+) galactosamine, d(+) raffinose and d(+) fucose but not l(-) fucose inhibited the hemagglutinating activity of these seed extracts. 3. 3. Lectin was purified from Trichosanthes kirilowii seed extract by a procedure involving solvent fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 and affinity chromatography on Lacto-Sepharose. 4. 4. The biochemical properties of T. kirilowii seed lectin were compared with those of T. kirilowii tuber isolectins. Their sugar binding specificities and amino acid compositions were similar. However, there was a difference in molecular weight.