Dept. of Biological Chemistry and the Wolfson Centre for Applied Structural Biology The Institute of Life Sciences The Hebrew University Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
sharonk@vms.huji.ac.il; boazsh@vms.huji.ac.il
The lectin isolated from the seeds of the Erythrina corallodendron (EcorL) is a legume lectin with a unique quaternary structure, which is very different from the canonical concanavalin A quaternary arrangement typical to the family. The unusual spatial arrangement of the EcorL monomers is caused by the covalently bound carbohydrate that interferes with the normal association mode found in the family. EcorL crystallizes in two crystal forms: the previously reported monoclinic C2 form with a monomer in the asymmetric unit and an hexagonal P65 form, with a dimer in the asymmetric unit presented here.
The quaternary structure of EcorL in both crystal forms is essentially identical, thus confirming the assertion that the unusual quaternary association observed in the monoclinic form and reported earlier reflects indeed the genuine dimeric structure of EcorL. The poster presents a thorough comparison between the dimers in the monoclinic and hexagonal forms, with implications to the factors affecting the oligomeric association of legume lectins.