Antimicrobial activities of lectins of some leguminous seeds

Abstract

Extraction, purification, and biological studies of lectins from leguminous seeds are widely dispreads in recently years. The previous studies proved that lectins have lots of significant benefits in many different fields particularly in Medical Microbiology. In this study, lectins from ten leguminous seeds (Fava bean, Lentil, Lima bean, Pea, Soy bean, and five cultivars of Phaseolus vulgaris) were extracted using ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by dialysis process. Purification process using affinity chromatography was performed to Fava bean, Lentil, and Pea. The molecular characterization was determined using SDS-PAGE, and all isolated lectins are located on the suggested molecular weight regions. Hemagglutination activity of lectins against human blood groups (A, B, AB, and O) was recorded. The examination of antimicrobial activities of lectins was performed using agar-well diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test. The results showed that all Lectins from leguminous seeds demonstrated a remarkable antibacterial activity against all tested bacteria Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Streptococcus mutants ATCC25175, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145, and Klebsiella except Escherichia coli 0157: HZ ATCC 51659. They also had a potent antifungal activity against Candida albicans. As far as we are aware, our work is the first approach that showed