Identification and characterization of lectin gene isolated from an indigenous Albizia lebbeck seeds

Plant lectins are biomolecules that are applied in the industrial and biomedical settings as research tool. This is because of their ability to recognize carbohydrate, irrespective of the origin through carbohydrate-binding sites; making them important tool used in an array of applications ranging from detecting abnormal cells and biomarkers related to diseases to therapeutic uses. Lectins are not efficiently utilized due to the problem of non-availability. This study presents a protein gene coding for lectin that is specific for galactose in the seeds of an indigenous Albizia lebbeck plant using zymo research seed kit. Lectin presence was validated by conventional chicken erythrocytes hemagglutination reaction. Optimized PCR primer pair LEC5 (Forward) and LEC6 (Reverse) specifically detected lectin coding protein that is specific for galactose. The lectin protein was apparently purified by salting out and gel filtration (PBS, pH 7.0), and subsequently submitted for electrophoresis under denaturing conditions on 1D 12% SDS-PAGE gels in a tris-glycine buffer, pH 8.3. A 195 bp obtained confirms the presence of lectin gene. The protein had an estimated mw 21 kDa. It is hoped that this finding will spur efforts into exploring the indigenous Albizia lebbeck seeds for large scale production of lectin from a natural source.