Diverse Sugar-Binding Specificities of Marine Invertebrate C-Type Lectins

Abstract

The sugar-binding specificities of C-type lectins isolated from marine invertebrates were investigated by frontal affinity chromatography (FAC) using 100 oligosaccharides. The lectins included BRA-2 and BRA-3, multiple lectins from the hemolymph of the acorn barnacle, Megabalanus rosa, and BRL from the acorn barnacle, Balanus rostatus. The diverse sugar-binding specificities of the C-type lectins were determined by FAC analysis. BRA-2 recognized α2-6 sialylation but not α2-3 sialylation on glycans. On the other hand, BRA-3 showed high affinity for oligosaccharides with α-linked non-reducing terminal galactose, but not for sialylated forms, and BRL showed enhanced recognition activity towards Lewis^x and Lewis^a epitopes.