Toxicity and Binding Profile of Lectins from the GenusCanavaliaon Brine Shrimp

Abstract

Lectins are sugar-binding proteins widely distributed in nature with many biological functions. Although many lectins have a remarkable biotechnological potential, some of them can be cytotoxic. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the toxicity of five lectins, purified from seeds of different species of Canavalia genus. In order to determine the toxicity, assays with Artemia nauplii were performed. In addition, a fluorescence assay was carried out to evaluate the binding of lectins to Artemia nauplii. In order to verify the relationship between the structure of lectins and their cytotoxic effect, structural analysis was carried out to evaluate the volume of the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) of each lectin. The results showed that all lectins exhibited different toxicities and bound to a similar area in the digestive tract of Artemia nauplii. Concerning the structural analysis, differences in spatial arrangement and volume of CRD may explain the variation of the toxicity exhibited by each lectin. To this date, this is the first study that establishes a link between toxicity and structure of CRD from Diocleinae lectins.

MytiLec-1 Shows Glycan-Dependent Toxicity against Brine Shrimp Artemia and Induces Apoptotic Death of Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma Cells In Vivo

“…Heavily glycosylated digestive tract of nauplii might contain α-galactoside sugars that became specifically recognized by MytiLec-1 as addition of 0.1M melibiose [Gal(α1-6)Glc] sugar reduced the binding of FITC-labeled MytiLec-1 (Figure 3C). This finding was in line with the properties of previously reported lectins from the genus Canavalia [23]. Though plant lectins are usually more toxic than animal lectins, this result suggested that animal lectins follow similar mechanisms to interrupt the functions of gut cells of Artemia or to destroy those cells [24,25].…”

Purification and molecular characterization of a novel mannose‐specific lectin from Dioclea reflexa hook seeds with inflammatory activity

“…The Artemia lethality test has been used successfully to determine the toxicity of bioactive compounds that have a variety of pharmacological activities, including anticancer agents, antivirals, insecticides, pesticides, and anti‐HIV compounds (Carballo et al ., ; Pervin et al ., ; Ho et al ., ). Other studies evaluated the toxic effect of some ConA‐like lectins, and they reported LC 50 values ranging from 45.85 to 376.48 µg/ml (Pinto‐Junior et al ., ; Arruda et al ., ). In comparison with similar lectins, DrfL exhibited low toxicity against Artemia sp.…”

Purification and characterization of a highly thermostable GlcNAc-binding lectin from Collaea speciosa seeds

“…within 24 and 48 hours. In contrast, Arruda et al [62] showed that several lectins belonging to the Diocleinae subtribe are toxic to Artemia with lethal concentrations as low as 54.48, 110.51, 146.55 μg/mL for ConBr, ConGF, and ConM, respectively. Based on these results, CsL can be considered nontoxic to Artemia sp.…”

“…The lethality test using Artemia is a simple preliminary assay to determine toxicity of CsL against cells [17,62,63,64]. When toxicity of CsL for Artemia was examined using lectin concentrations ranging between 3.125 and 200 μg/mL, it was found that this lectin is innocuous to Artemia sp.…”