RESUMO
A novel lectin specific to low-branched mannans (MBL-SN) was isolated from coelomic plasma of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus nudus by combining anion-exchange liquid chromatography on DEAE Toyopearl 650 M, affinity chromatography on mannan-Sepharose and gel filtration on the Sephacryl S-200. The molecular mass of MBL-SN was estimated by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under non-reducing conditions to be about 34 kDa. MBL-SN was shown to be a dimer with two identical subunits of about 17 kDa. The native MBL-SN exists as a tetramer. The physico-chemical properties of MBL-SN indicate that it belongs to C-type mannan-binding lectins. The cDNA encoding MBL-SN was cloned from the total cDNA of S. nudus coelomocytes and encodes a 17-kDa protein of 144 amino acid residues that contains a single carbohydrate-recognition domain of C-type lectins. Prediction of the MBL-SN tertiary structure using comparative modelling revealed that MBL-SN is an α/ß-protein with eight ß-strands and two α-helices. Comparison of the MBL-SN model with available three-dimensional structures of C-type lectins revealed that they share a common fold pattern.
Assuntos
Lectina de Ligação a Manose/química , Lectina de Ligação a Manose/genética , Modelos Moleculares , Conformação Proteica , Strongylocentrotus/genética , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Sequência de Bases , Cálcio/metabolismo , Cromatografia de Afinidade , Cromatografia em Agarose , Cromatografia em Gel , Cromatografia por Troca Iônica , Reações Cruzadas , Dimerização , Eletroforese em Gel de Poliacrilamida , Testes de Inibição da Hemaglutinação , Humanos , Concentração de Íons de Hidrogênio , Imuno-Histoquímica , Lectina de Ligação a Manose/isolamento & purificação , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Análise de Sequência de DNA , Especificidade da Espécie , Strongylocentrotus/imunologia , TemperaturaRESUMO
To elucidate the origin and evolution of mannan-binding lectins (MBL), a new C-type lectin (CTL) specific for high-mannose glycans (MBL-AJ) was isolated from the coelomic plasma of the holothurian Apostichopus japonicus. MBL-AJ has oligomeric forms with identical 17-kDa subunits on SDS-PAGE. Among natural ligands, lectin hemagglutination activity was competitively inhibited by extracellular low-branched, but not high-branched, alpha-D-mannans isolated from marine halophilic bacteria and composed of alpha-1,2 and alpha-1,6 linked D-mannose residues. This suggests that the lectin interacts with backbone or inner side chain mannose residues, but not with terminal ones. The activity of the lectin was Ca(2+)-, pH-, and temperature-dependent. MBL-AJ cDNA was cloned from a holothurian coelomocyte cDNA library. The subunit of the mature protein has 159 amino acids and a single carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD) of CTL. CRD contains a Glu-Pro-Asp amino acid sequence (EPN-motif) conserved for all known MBLs. A monospecific polyclonal antibody against MBL-AJ was obtained using the 34-kDa lectin dimer as an immunogen. The MBL-AJ has demonstrated immunochemical identity to the earlier isolated mannan-binding CTL from another holothurian, Cucumaria japonica. But a more interesting finding was cross-reactivity of MBL-AJ and human serum MBL detected by the antibody against MBL-AJ. Taking into consideration such MBL-AJ peculiarities as its carbohydrate specificity, the presence of a conserved region forming the mannose-binding site, common antigenic determinants with human MBL, and participation in defense reactions, it is possible that MBL-AJ belongs to the family of evolutionary conserved mannan-binding proteins.
