High Bacterial Agglutination Activity in a Single-CRD C-Type Lectin from Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

• Main Authors: Leila Gasmi, Juan Ferré, Salvador Herrero
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-03-01
• Series: Biosensors
• Subjects: C-type lectin; agglutination; CRD; bacterial detection; E. coli
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/7/1/12

Lectins are carbohydrate-interacting proteins that play a pivotal role in multiple physiological and developmental aspects of all organisms. They can specifically interact with different bacterial and viral pathogens through carbohydrate-recognition domains (CRD). In addition, lectins are also of biotechnological interest because of their potential use as biosensors for capturing and identifying bacterial species. In this work, three C-type lectins from the Lepidoptera Spodoptera exigua were produced as recombinant proteins and their bacterial agglutination properties were characterized. The lowest protein concentration producing bacterial agglutination against a panel of different Gram+ and Gram− as well as their carbohydrate binding specificities was determined for the three lectins. One of these lectins, BLL2, was able to agglutinate cells from a broad range of bacterial species at an extremely low concentration, becoming a very interesting protein to be used as a biosensor or for other biotechnological applications involving bacterial capture.