Navy (haricot)-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) lectin. Isolation and characterization of two components from a toxic agglutinating extract

Two protein components were isolated in a highly purified state from a toxic fraction from the navy (haricot) bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). One, a lectin, strongly agglutinated horse erythrocytes and leucocytes, agglutination being readily observable with both types of cell at a lectin concentration of 4μg/ml. The other component (component 1), although possessing some similarity in composition, was thought to be non-agglutinating or, at most, only very weakly so. Component 1 had a mol.wt. of about 143000 and a subunit mol.wt. of about 37000, suggesting a tetrameric structure probably with identical subunits. Alanine was the only N-terminal amino acid identified and the molecule was notable in being devoid of tryptophan and cysteine, low in methionine and high in leucine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid. The lectin was somewhat smaller (mol.wt. about 114000) and apparently also composed of four identical subunits of mol.wt. about 30000. Dansylation showed that arginine occupied the N-terminus of the polypeptide chain. Aspartic acid, serine, threonine and leucine were the predominant amino acids of the lectin, and the sulphur-containing amino acids were entirely absent. Both constituents were glycoproteins and the compositions of the carbohydrate portions (4.9% for component 1 and 8.1% for the lectin) were generally similar, consisting of mannose and glucosamine with smaller amounts of glucose and traces of xylose and arabinose.