Project

Isolation of lectins and colored proteins from marine algae

Lectins are proteins, ubiquitous in nature and have garnered much attention due to specificity of its interaction with the carbohydrates. Glycosylation is a key step in many cellular processes and with more reports about the change in cell surface carbohydrates in different pathological conditions are more evident, research about exploiting lectins as a therapeutic tool is now at the forefront. In the present study, we have isolated and partially purified a lectin from a marine algal species. Presence of lectins was confirmed by hemagglutination assay. The samples that show positive results for lectins were subjected to a coarse purification through ammonium sulphate precipitation. Ion exchange chromatography was followed to purify the lectin fractions further. Molecular weight of the purified lectin was determined by SDS PAGE. The affinity of various sugars towards the isolated lectin was identified by hemagglutination inhibition assay.