CEL-III, a galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine (Gal/GalNAc)-specific lectin purified from a marine invertebrate, Cucumaria echinata, has a strong hemolytic activity, especially toward human and rabbit erythrocytes in the presence of Ca
2+. We evaluated the role of Ca
2+ in hemagglutinating and hemolytic activities of CEL-III. We found that Ca
2+ is closely associated with both activities of CEL-III. The fluorescence spectra of CEL-III upon binding to Ca
2+ were measured. The result showed a structural change of CEL-III in the presence of Ca
2+. The structural change of CEL-III upon Ca
2+ binding was further demonstrated by stabilization against urea denaturation and by insusceptibility to protease digestions. CEL-III was completely unfolded at a low concentration of 2 M urea, while CEL-III complexed with Ca
2+ was stable in 6 M urea. As for protease digestions, CEL-III monomer and oligomer were readily digested by trypsin, chymotrypsin, and papain in the absence of Ca
2+, while they were insusceptible to the three proteases in the presence of Ca
2+. The papain digestion of the decalcified oligomer produced a large C-terminal peptide, suggestting that the C-terminal region of CEL-III may participate in oligomerization of CEL-III as a core domain.
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