Bioprospecção de lectinas em sementes de Vataireopsis araroba (Aguiar) Ducke

Abstract

Lectins are proteins of non-immune origin found in all kingdoms of life, possessing at least one non-catalytic binding domain that recognize and reversibly interact with carbohydrates, the latter characteristic being responsible for the high degree of stereospecificity that these molecules have. In this way, they are able to recognize different structures of free sugars or glycans present in glycoproteins or glycolipids and form bonds in a specific and reversible way after interaction with glycoconjugate complexes without changing their structure. In nature they are responsible for several biological activities such as: hemagglutinating activity, antiviral activity, antibacterial activity and antifungal activity. Because they have the described characteristics, they are molecules of high interest in the areas of Biotechnology, Biomedicine and Agriculture. Thus, lectins are the subject of several studies and, to date, those of plant origin are the most studied, and most known lectins have been isolated and characterized from plants belonging to the Leguminosae family. This work aimed to bioprospect a lectin from the seeds of Vataireopsis araroba, a tree from the Dalbergieae tribe that is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, given the characteristics of its wood. In addition, it is also part of the Papilionoideae subfamily, which represents the legume family with the highest number of purified lectins to date.