Lectin from em>Canavalia brasiliensis /em> Seeds (ConBr) Is a Valuable Biotechnological Tool to Stimulate the Growth of em>Rhizobium tropici /em> em>in Vitro /em

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 17; no. 5; pp. 5244 - 5254
• Main Authors: Ricardo Pires dos Santos, Benildo Sousa Cavada, Bruno Anderson Matias Rocha, Edson Holanda Teixeira, Victor Alves Carneiro, Giselly Soares de Sousa, Francisco Vassiliepe Sousa Arruda, Mayron Alves de Vasconcelos, Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento Neto, Fabio Martins Mercante, Claudio Oliveira Cunha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 01.05.2012
• Subjects: Canavalia brasiliensis; Canavalia ensiformis; growth; interaction; lectin; Rhizobium tropici
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules17055244
• ISSN: 1420-3049

To study the interactions between a Rhizobium tropici strain and lectins isolated from the seeds of Canavalia ensiformis (ConA) and Canavalia brasiliensis (ConBr), a lectin fluorescence assay was performed. In addition, an experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of the two lectins on bacterial growth. Both lectins were found to bind to R. tropici cells, but the interactions were inhibited by D-mannose. Interestingly, only ConBr stimulated bacterial growth in proportion to the concentrations used (15.6–500 µg/mL), and the bacterial growth stimulation was inhibited by D-mannose as well. Structure/Function analyses by bioinformatics were carried out to evaluate the volume and carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) configuration of ConA and ConBr. The difference of spatial arrangement and volume of CRD may indicate the variation between biological activities of both lectins. The results suggest that ConBr could be a promising tool for studies focusing on the interactions between rhizobia and host plants.