Transient occurrence of an ebulin-related D-galactose-lectin in shoots of Sambucus ebulus L.

Young shoots of Sambucus ebulus L. contain a monomeric d-galactose binding lectin (SELlm), which disappears upon shoot development, and was previously undetected since it co-purifies with the non-toxic type 2 ribosome-inactivating protein ebulin l and the dimeric lectin SELld. Molecular cloning of cDNA coding for SELlm and mass spectrometry analysis revealed a protein with a molecular mass of 34,239 Da, which displays 80%, 77% and 45% of amino acid sequence identity with the ebulin l-B chain, SELld and ricin-B chain, respectively. Furthermore, the cloned precursor, with respect to the ebulin l precursor is truncated and contains the signal peptide, a piece of the A chain, a piece of the connecting peptide and the B chain. Further processing yields the lectin protein, which contains only the B chain. Despite the fact that SELlm displays the same d-galactose-binding sites than ricin, it was found that the lectin has different binding properties to D-galactose-containing matrix than ricin. Notably, and unlike ricin, the binding of SELlm and other Sambucus lectins to such matrix was maximum in range of 0-10 degrees C and abolished at 20 degrees C.