Activity of immobilized lectin stored at different temperatures

Abstract

Here, the mannose‐rich yeast binding activity of immobilized Con A was tested when the beads were stored for up to 60 days in a freezer (‐20 C), a refrigerator (4C), and at room temperature (24C), compared with controls stored in a refrigerator under the manufacturer's specifications. In about a total of 9,000 replicate experiments, beads stored at the 3 temperatures studied, maintained their ability to effectively bind yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) over the 60 day period. Linear trend lines for the 3 storage temperature graphs confirmed that the room temperature condition was slightly better than the refrigerator condition, that was slightly better than the freezer condition. The difference between the trend lines was at their widest divergence about 12%. While the beads bound yeast effectively after being stored at the temperatures tested, the experiments were conducted at 24C. It is likely that if the actual experiments were done at different temperatures, the kinetics of yeast binding to the beads would be affected by temperature. This issue was not examined in this study but should be investigated, as many experiments in a wide variety of systems might require being conducted at different temperatures. This is a model system for studying the efficacy of potential glycan‐based anti‐infection drugs (Supported by NIH NIGMS SCORE (S0648680), MARC, RISE, the Joseph Drown Foundation and the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust).