Fungal Lectins: Current molecular and biochemical perspectives

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide concise information about recent developments in understanding of fungal lectins. Lectins, a well-known class of multivalent carbohydrate binding proteins of non-immune origin that recognize diverse sugar structures with a high degree of stereo-specificity in a non-catalytic manner are wide spread in distribution. Plant and animal lectins are subjected to extensive studies and only limited information was available on fungal lectins. In last few years mushroom and other fungal lectins have attracted wide attention due to their antitumor, antiproliferative and immunomodulatory activities. Earlier fungal lectin reports deal only with their purification, carbohydrate specificity, basic characterization and possible roles. In last ten years, several fungal lectins have been cloned, sequenced and crystallized. More subtle information about their structure and binding properties is available, obtained by employing more advanced techniques such as X-ray crystallography, surface plasmon resonance and enzyme linked lectinsorbent assay etc. Several fungal lectins have been discovered in the recent years and their structural and biochemical properties have been explored. However, some of them show resemblance with plant and bacterial lectins, but still there are enough evidence to place them in a diverse lectin group. This article will provide concise information about recent advancement in understanding of fungal lectins regarding their biochemical and molecular properties. © 2011 Academic Journals Inc.