Facile synthesis of biodegradable affinity-purified lectin nanoparticles

AbstractLectins are proteins/glycoproteins that exhibit distinct sugar specificities and interact with cell surface molecules and have therefore being used as potential tools for drug delivery systems. In the present study, we purified different sugar-specific lectins by affinity chromatography. A glucose/mannose-specific lectin (DLL-I) as well as galactose-specific lectin (DLL-II) [from the seeds of Dolichos lablab], lactose-specific lectin (LSL) [from the fresh water mussel Lamellidens corrianus] and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) [from wheat germ seeds] were affinity purified. Purified DLL-I migrated as a pentamer (α-1, α-2, α-3, α-4 in the range of 12–20 kDa and β subunit), DLL-II migrated as a dimer (α and β, 31 kDa and 29 kDa), LSL migrated as three subunit protein in SDS-PAGE (29 kDa, 28 kDa, and 26 kDa), and WGA migrated as single subunit (18 kDa). Nanoparticles of these lectins were prepared and characterized for the size and shape by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, a...