Purification and characterization of a lectin from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Mexico seeds.

A lectin from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Mexico (AHML) was purified by affinity chromatography using asialofetuin-Sepharose 4B. AHML is specific for N-acetyl-D-galactosamine as are the other Amaranthus lectins. AHML has no carbohydrate moiety and requires no metal ion for the hemagglutination activity. The pI of AHML is 6.8. AHML has a native molecular mass of 45.0 kDa and is composed of homo-subunits having molecular masses of 36.8 kDa.