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A novel mode of carbohydrate recognition in jacalin, a Moraceae plant lectin with a β-prism fold

Nature Structural Biology volume 3, pages 596–603 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

Jacalin, a tetrameric two-chain lectin (66,000 Mr) from jackfruit seeds, is highly specific for the tumour associated T-antigenic disaccharide. The crystal structure of jacalin with methyl-α-D-galactose reveals that each subunit has a three-fold symmetric β-prism fold made up of three four-stranded β-sheets. The lectin exhibits a novel carbohydrate-binding site involving the N terminus of the α-chain which is generated through a post-translational modification involving proteolysis, the first known instance where such a modification has been used to confer carbohydrate specificity. This new lectin fold may be characteristic of the Moraceae plant family. The structure provides an explanation for the relative affinities of the lectin for galactose derivatives and provides insights into the structural basis of its T-antigen specificity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India

    Rajan Sankaranarayanan, Kanakaraj Sekar, Rahul Banerjee, Vivek Sharma, Avadhesha Surolia & Mamannamana Vijayan

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  1. Rajan Sankaranarayanan
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Sankaranarayanan, R., Sekar, K., Banerjee, R. et al. A novel mode of carbohydrate recognition in jacalin, a Moraceae plant lectin with a β-prism fold. Nat Struct Mol Biol 3, 596–603 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0796-596

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