Structure of Dioclea virgata lectin: Relations between carbohydrate binding site and nitric oxide production

Research advances and prospects of legume lectins

Lectins are widely distributed proteins having ability of binding selectively and reversibly with carbohydrates moieties and glycoconjugates. Although lectins have been reported from different biological sources, the legume lectins are the best-characterized family of plant lectins. Legume lectins are a large family of homologous proteins with considerable similarity in amino acid sequence and their tertiary structures. Despite having strong sequence conservation, these lectins show remarkable variability in carbohydrate specificity and quaternary structures. The ability of legume lectins in recognizing glycans and glycoconjugates on cells and other intracellular structures make them a valuable research tool in glycomic research. Due to variability in binding with glycans, glycoconjugates and multiple biological functions, legume lectins are the subject of intense research for their diverse application in different fields such as glycobiology, biomedical research and crop improvement. The present review specially focuses on structural and functional characteristics of legume lectins along with their potential areas of application.

In depth analysis on the carbohydrate-binding properties of a vasorelaxant lectin from Dioclea lasiophylla Mart Ex. Benth seeds

Lectins are a class of proteins or glycoproteins capable of recognizing and interacting with carbohydrates in a specific and reversible manner. Owing to this property, these proteins can interact with glycoconjugates present on the cell surface, making it possible to decipher the glycocode, as well as elicit biological effects, such as inflammation and vasorelaxation. Here, we report a structural and biological study of the mannose/glucose-specific lectin from Dioclea lasiophylla seeds, DlyL. The study aimed to evaluate in detail the interaction of DlyL with Xman and high-mannose N-glycans (MAN3, MAN5 and MAN9) by molecular dynamics (MD) and the resultant in vitro effect on vasorelaxation using rat aortic rings. In silico analysis of molecular docking was performed to obtain the initial coordinates of the DlyL complexes with the carbohydrates to apply as inputs in MD simulations. The MD trajectories demonstrated the stability of DlyL over time as well as different profiles of interaction with Xman and N-glycans. Furthermore, aortic rings assays demonstrated that the lectin could relax pre-contracted aortic rings with the participation of the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) and nitric oxide (NO) when endothelial tissue is preserved. These results confirm the ability of DlyL to interact with high-mannose N-glycans with its expanded CRD, supporting the hypothesis that DlyL vasorelaxant activity occurs primarily through its interaction with cell surface glycosylated receptors.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Heterologous production of α-chain of Dioclea sclerocarpa lectin: Enhancing the biological effects of a wild-type lectin

Lectins from Diocleinae subtribe species (family Leguminosae) are of special interest since they present a wide spectrum of biological activities, despite their high structural similarity. During their synthesis in plant cells, these proteins undergo post-translational processing resulting in the formation of three chains (α, β, γ), which constitute the lectins' subunits. Furthermore, such wild-type proteins are presented as isolectins or with different combinations of these chains, which undermine their biotechnological potential. Thus, the present study aimed to produce a recombinant form of the lectin from Dioclea sclerocarpa seeds (DSL), exclusively constituted by α-chain. The recombinant DSL (rDSL) was successfully expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) and purified by affinity chromatography (Sephadex G-50), showing a final yield of 74 mg of protein per liter of culture medium and specificity for D-mannose, α-methyl-mannoside and melibiose, unlike the wild-type protein. rDSL presented an effective vasorelaxant effect in rat aortas up to 100% and also interacted with glioma cells C6 and U87. Our results demonstrated an efficient recombinant production of rDSL in a bacterial system that retained some biochemical properties of the wild-type protein, showing wider versatility in sugar specificities and better efficacy in its activity in the biological models evaluated in this work.

Overview of the Structure⁻Function Relationships of Mannose-Specific Lectins from Plants, Algae and Fungi

To date, a number of mannose-binding lectins have been isolated and characterized from plants and fungi. These proteins are composed of different structural scaffold structures which harbor a single or multiple carbohydrate-binding sites involved in the specific recognition of mannose-containing glycans. Generally, the mannose-binding site consists of a small, central, carbohydrate-binding pocket responsible for the "broad sugar-binding specificity" toward a single mannose molecule, surrounded by a more extended binding area responsible for the specific recognition of larger mannose-containing N-glycan chains. Accordingly, the mannose-binding specificity of the so-called mannose-binding lectins towards complex mannose-containing N-glycans depends largely on the topography of their mannose-binding site(s). This structure⁻function relationship introduces a high degree of specificity in the apparently homogeneous group of mannose-binding lectins, with respect to the specific recognition of high-mannose and complex N-glycans. Because of the high specificity towards mannose these lectins are valuable tools for deciphering and characterizing the complex mannose-containing glycans that decorate both normal and transformed cells, e.g., the altered high-mannose N-glycans that often occur at the surface of various cancer cells.

ConA-Like Lectins: High Similarity Proteins as Models to Study Structure/Biological Activities Relationships

Lectins are a widely studied group of proteins capable of specific and reversible binding to carbohydrates. Undoubtedly, the best characterized are those extracted from plants of the Leguminosae family. Inside this group of proteins, those from the Diocleinae subtribe have attracted attention, in particular Concanavalin A (ConA), the best-studied lectin of the group. Diocleinae lectins, also called ConA-like lectins, present a high similarity of sequence and three-dimensional structure and are known to present inflammatory, vasoactive, antibiotic, immunomodulatory and antitumor activities, among others. This high similarity of lectins inside the ConA-like group makes it possible to use them to study structure/biological activity relationships by the variability of both carbohydrate specificity and biological activities results. It is in this context the following review aims to summarize the most recent data on the biochemical and structural properties, as well as biological activities, of ConA-like lectins and the use of these lectins as models to study structure/biological activity relationships.

CRLI induces vascular smooth muscle relaxation and suggests a dual mechanism of eNOS activation by legume lectins via muscarinic receptors and shear stress

Lectins are proteins able to recognize carbohydrates, without modifying their structure, via the carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD). Here, the three-dimensional structure of the mannose-binding lectin isolated from Cymbosema roseum (CRLI) was determined with X-man molecule modeled into the carbohydrate recognition domain. CRLI relaxant activity in thoracic rat aorta was also investigated, and based on the results, a molecular docking of CRLI with heparan sulfate was performed to investigate the possible interaction with mechanoreceptors involved in vasorelaxation. CRLI (IC₅₀=12.4 μg mL(-)(1)) elicited vasorelaxant response (96%) in endothelialized rat aorta contracted with phenylephrine. Endothelium-derived relaxant factors, extracellular calcium (Ca(2+)e) and muscarinic receptors were also evaluated as putative participants in the CRLI relaxant effect. CRLI relaxant effect was blocked by L-NAME, a nonselective inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and partially inhibited in a calcium-free solution (0Ca) and by atropine, but it remained unchanged in the presence of indomethacin and TEA. In summary, our data suggest interaction between CRLI and muscarinic receptors located in vascular endothelial cells leading to NOS activation triggered by a mechanism that involves Ca(2+)e along with the ability of CRLI to interact with heparan sulfate, a highly rated mechanoreceptor involved in eNOS activation.

Vasorelaxant activity of Canavalia grandiflora seed lectin: A structural analysis

Lectins are comprised of a large family of proteins capable of the specific and reversible recognition of carbohydrates. Legume lectins, the most studied plant lectins, show high structural similarity, but with modifications that imply a variation in the intensity of some biological activities. In this work, the primary and tertiary structures of Canavalia grandiflora (ConGF) were determined. ConGF, a lectin isolated from C. grandiflora seeds, is able to induce relaxant activity in rat aortic rings. The complete sequence of ConGF comprises 237 amino acids. This particular protein has primary sequence variations commonly found in lectins from Dioclea and Canavalia genera. The protein structure was solved at 2.3 Å resolution by X-ray crystallography. An X-Man molecule was modeled into the carbohydrate recognition domain. Still, ConGF (30 and 100 μg mL(-1)) elicited 25% of vasorelaxation (IC50=34.48 ± 5.07 μg mL(-1)) in endothelialized aortic rings. A nonselective inhibitor of nitric oxide blocked ConGF relaxant effect, showing mediation by nitric oxide. Key distances between ConGF carbohydrate recognition domain residues were determined in order to explain this effect, in turn revealing some structural aspects that could differentiate lectins from the Canavalia genera with respect to different efficacy in vasorelaxant effect.

Combined effects of EPS and HRT enhanced biofouling on a submerged and hybrid PAC-MF membrane bioreactor

The goal of this study was to quantify and demonstrate the dynamic effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT), organic carbon and various components of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) produced by microorganisms on the performance of submersed hollow-fiber microfiltration (MF) membrane in a hybrid powdered activated carbon (PAC)-MF membrane bioreactor (MBR). The reactors were operated continuously for 45 days to treat surface (river) water before and after pretreatment using a biofiltration unit. The real-time levels of organic carbon and the major components of EPS including five different carbohydrates (D(+) glucose and D(+) mannose, D(+) galactose, N-acetyl-D-galactosamine and D-galactose, oligosaccharides and L(-) fucose), proteins, and polysaccharides were quantified in the influent water, foulants, and in the bulk phases of different reactors. The presence of PAC extended the filtration cycle and enhanced the organic carbon adsorption and removal more than two fold. Biological filtration improved the filtrate quality and decreased membrane fouling. However, HRT influenced the length of the filtration cycle and had less effect on organic carbon and EPS component removal and/or biodegradation. The abundance of carbohydrates in the foulants on MF surfaces was more than 40 times higher than in the bulk phase, which demonstrates that the accumulation of carbohydrates on membrane surfaces contributed to the increase in transmembrane pressure significantly and PAC was not a potential adsorbent of carbohydrates. The abundance of N-acetyl-d-galactosamine and d-galactose was the highest in the foulants on membranes receiving biofilter-treated river water. Most of the biological fouling compounds were produced inside the reactors due to biodegradation. PAC inside the reactor enhanced the biodegradation of polysaccharides up to 97% and that of proteins by more than 95%. This real-time extensive and novel study demonstrates that the PAC-MF hybrid MBR is a sustainable technology for treating river water.