The areas of application for plant lectins

Abstract

Lectins, in particular from plants, are proteins of non-immune origin that are able to bind carbohydrates with high specificity. Due to their properties, phytolectins are of great interest in practical applications. They were shown to play an important role in forming strategies for treatment of disease including cancer and HIV. Plant lectins are an important tool in glycomic studies. Plant lectins with fungicidal and insecticidal activities are used in transgenic technologies to increase plant resistance to pests and phytopathogens. The introduction of lectin-like kinases genes into plant genome was shown to be perspective way to protect plants against environmental stresses and regulate plant growth. Engineering of phytolectins allows obtaining molecules with known carbohydrate specificity that can be applied in various areas. The studies are underway with the aim of design of lectin-based drug delivery systems as well as the pharmaceutical drugs containing plant lectins. Because of the ability of phytolectins to bind to different substances they can be more widely used in the future. The review focuses on current data and future possibilities in the application of plant lectins

Canavalia ensiformis-derived lectin inhibits biofilm formation of enterohemorrhagicEscherichia coliandListeria monocytogenes

“…; Melnykova et al . ). In this study, we identified that ConA is effective in inhibiting the initial attachment and biofilm development of E. coli and L. monocytogenes .…”

Application of lectin histochemistry methods for the investigation of influences of thyroid hormones imbalance on the organism

“…Óïðîäîâae ìèíóëèõ äåñÿòèë³òü âàãîìå ì³ñöå â àðñåíàë³ ³íñòðóìåíò³â äîñë³äaeåííÿ ´ë³êîêîäó aeèâèõ îð´àí³çì³â çàâîþâàëè ìåòîäè ëåê-òèíîâî¿ ã³ñòîõ³ì³¿ [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Âîëîä³þ÷è óí³êàëüíîþ âëàñòèâ³ñòþ âèá³ðêîâî çâ'ÿçóâàòèñÿ ç òåðì³íàëüíèìè ìîíî-÷è äèñàõàðèäíèìè çàëèøêàìè îë³ãîñàõàðèäíèõ ëàíöþã³â ´ë³êîïîë³ìåð³â, ëåêòèíè äîçâîëÿþòü îòðèìàòè äîñòîâ³ðíó ³íôîðìàö³þ ùîäî ¿õíüî¿ ã³ñòîòîïî´ðàô³¿, ïåðåáóäîâè ïðè ðåà-ë³çàö³¿ ïðîöåñ³â åìáð³î´åíåçó, ó äèíàì³ö³ ô³ç³î-ëî´³÷íèõ â³äïðàâëåíü òà ðîçâèòêó ð³çíîìàí³òíèõ ôîðì ïàòîëî´³¿.…”

“…Âîëîä³þ÷è óí³êàëüíîþ âëàñòèâ³ñòþ âèá³ðêîâî çâ'ÿçóâàòèñÿ ç òåðì³íàëüíèìè ìîíî-÷è äèñàõàðèäíèìè çàëèøêàìè îë³ãîñàõàðèäíèõ ëàíöþã³â ´ë³êîïîë³ìåð³â, ëåêòèíè äîçâîëÿþòü îòðèìàòè äîñòîâ³ðíó ³íôîðìàö³þ ùîäî ¿õíüî¿ ã³ñòîòîïî´ðàô³¿, ïåðåáóäîâè ïðè ðåà-ë³çàö³¿ ïðîöåñ³â åìáð³î´åíåçó, ó äèíàì³ö³ ô³ç³î-ëî´³÷íèõ â³äïðàâëåíü òà ðîçâèòêó ð³çíîìàí³òíèõ ôîðì ïàòîëî´³¿. Ëåêòèíè äîçâîëÿþòü ñåëåêòèâíî âèÿâëÿòè îêðåì³ ñóáïîïóëÿö³¿ êë³òèí, îð´àíåëè, ïîâ'ÿçàí³ ç ïðîöåñèíãîì ´ë³êîïîë³ìåð³â, à òàêîae ä³ëÿíêè ïëàçìàòè÷íî¿ ìåìáðàíè, çàä³ÿí³ ó òèõ ÷è ³íøèõ ìåõàí³çìàõ êë³òèííî¿ àêòèâíîñò³ [11,16,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Phaseolus vulgaris lectins: A systematic review of characteristics and health implications

“…The Phaseolus vulgaris beans are rich sources of lectins in human diet, and it has become clear that this kind of proteins can cause diseases, as their biologically and immunologically intact forms are resistant to digestion in the body (Bardocz et al, 1995;Woodley, 1999). Although complete proof is still lacking in most cases, lectins have been considered by most biomedical scientists for use in therapy in a variety of diseases (Freed, 1991;Mascanfroni et al, 2011;Lam and Ng, 2011b;Melnykova et al, 2013). Thus, increasing concerns are currently established about the safety and efficacy of the Phaseolus vulgaris lectins as shown in Table 1.…”