RESUMO
The lectin from seeds of Dioclea virgata (DvirL) was purified in a single step affinity chromatography, sequenced by tandem mass spectrometry and submitted to crystallization and biological experiments. DvirL has a molecular mass of 25,412 ± 2 Da and the chains ß and γ has 12,817 Da ± 2 and 12,612 Da ± 2, respectively. Primary sequence determination was assigned by tandem mass spectrometry and revealed a protein with 237 amino acids and 87% of identify with ConA. The protein crystals were obtained native and complexed with X-Man using vapor-diffusion method at a constant temperature of 293 K. A complete X-ray dataset was collected at 1.8 Å resolution. DvirL crystals were found to be orthorhombic, belonging to the space group I222, with a unit cell parameters a = 647.5 Å, b = 86.6 Å, c = 90.2 Å. Molecular replacement search found a solution with a correlation coefficient of 77.1% and an R(factor) of 44.6%. The present study also demonstrated that D. virgata lectin presents edematogenic and antinociceptive activities in rodents electing this protein as a candidate to structure/function analysis.
Assuntos
Analgésicos/química , Dioclea/química , Lectinas de Plantas/química , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Analgésicos/isolamento & purificação , Analgésicos/farmacologia , Animais , Cristalização , Edema/tratamento farmacológico , Humanos , Masculino , Espectrometria de Massas , Camundongos , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Mapeamento de Peptídeos , Lectinas de Plantas/isolamento & purificação , Lectinas de Plantas/farmacologia , Sementes/química , Alinhamento de Sequência , Difração de Raios XRESUMO
A new galactose-specific lectin, named BBL, was purified from seeds of Bauhinia bauhinioides by precipitation with ammonium sulfate, followed by two steps of ion exchange chromatography. BBL haemagglutinated rabbit erythrocytes (native and treated with proteolytic enzymes) showing stability even after exposure to 60 °C for an hour. The lectin haemagglutinating activity was optimum between pH 8.0 and 9.0 and inhibited after incubation with D-galactose and its derivatives, especially α-methyl-D-galactopyranoside. The pure protein possessed a molecular mass of 31 kDa by SDS-PAGE and 28.310 Da by mass spectrometry. The lectin pro-inflammatory activity was also evaluated. The s.c. injection of BBL into rats induced a dose-dependent paw edema, an effect that occurred via carbohydrate site interaction and was significantly reduced by L-NAME, suggesting an important participation of nitric oxide in the late phase of the edema. These findings indicate that BBL can be used as a tool to better understand the mechanisms involved in inflammatory responses.