Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An analogy of Canavalia lectins by molecular phylogenetic characterization

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Proteins and Proteomics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Concanavalin is a highly revered plant lectin with wide biological significance. Canavalia lectins of the Diocleinae subtribe possess increased structural similarity, but vary in their biological roles and applications. The lectin gene sequences of C. cathartica (ConC), C. ensiformis (ConA), C. gladiata (ConG) and C. rosea (ConM) were sequenced, PCR amplified, collated and compared with members of Phaseoleae tribe. Comparison of nucleotide sequences reveals changes in few bases. All Canavalia spp. diverged from C. bonariensis in the phylogenetic trees constructed according to the nucleotide sequences and the corresponding protein sequence of the legume lectins. The fluctuations in root mean square deviation derived by superimposition of monomers and tetramers substantiate variability in sugar specificity and biological activities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ConA:

Concanavalin A

ConBr:

Concanavalin Br

CaBo:

Concanavalin Bo

ConC:

Concanavalin C

ConG:

Concanavalin G

ConM:

Concanavalin M

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

PDB:

Protein data bank

rmsd:

root mean square deviation value

TM-score:

Template modelling score

CRD:

Carbohydrate recognition domain

ETS:

External transcribed spacer

ITS:

Internal transcribed spacer

trnK:

TRNALys(UUU) gene

matK:

MaturaseK gene

References

  • Allen GC, Flores-Vergara MA, Krasynanski S, Kumar S, Thompson WF (2006) A modified protocol for rapid DNA isolation from plant tissues using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. Nat Protoc 1:2320–2325

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Altschul SF, Gish W, Miller W, Myers EW, Lipman DJ (1990) Basic local alignment search tool. J Mol Biol 215:403–410

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arruda FV, Melo AA, Vasconcelos MA, Carneiro RF, Barroso-Neto IL, Silva SR, Pereira-Junior FN, Nagano CS, Nascimento KS, Teixeira EH, Saker-Sampaio S (2013) Toxicity and binding profile of lectins from the genus Canavalia on brine shrimp. Biomed Res Int 2013:1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Assreuy AMS, Shibuya MDD, Martins GJ, De Souza MLP, Cavada BS, Moreira RA, Oliveira JTA, Ribeiro RDA, Flores CA (1997) Anti-inflammatory effect of glucose-mannose binding lectins isolated from Brazilian beans. Mediat Inflamm 6:201–210

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Assreuy AMS, Fontenele SR, de Freitas PA, Fernandes DC, Rodrigues NVFC, Bezerra EHS, Moura TR, do Nascimento KS, Cavada BS (2009) Vasodilator effects of Diocleinae lectins from the Canavalia genus. N S Arch Pharmacol 380:509–521

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Assreuy AMS, Pereira LP, Marques GFO, Neto CC, Lóssio CF, Osterne VJS, Nascimento KS, Cavada BS (2017) Stimulation of leukocyte migration and nitric oxide release into rat peritoneal cavity by Canavalia lectins: molecular and structural insights. Curr Top Pharmacol 21:117–122

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bapuji JL, Ratnam SV (2009) Traditional uses of some medicinal plants by tribals of Gangaraju Madugula Mandal of Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. Ethnobot Leaflets 13:388–398

    Google Scholar 

  • Barroso-Neto IL, Simões RC, Rocha BAM, Bezerra MJB, Pereira-Junior FN, Osterne VJS, Nascimento KS, Nagano CS, Delatorre P, Pereira MG, Pires AF (2014) Vasorelaxant activity of Canavalia grandiflora seed lectin: a structural analysis. Arch Biochem Biophys 543:31–39

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Benson DA, Cavanaugh M, Clark K, Karsch-Mizrachi I, Lipman DJ, Ostell J, Sayers EW (2012) GenBank. Nucleic Acids Res 41:D36–D42

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Berman HM, Westbrook J, Feng Z, Gilliland G, Bhat TN, Weissig H, Shindyalov IN, Bourne PE (2000) The protein data bank. Nucleic Acids Res 28:235–242

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bhagya B, Sridhar KR (2009) Ethnobiology of coastal sand dune legumes of Southwest coast of India. Indian J Tradit knowl 8:611–620

    Google Scholar 

  • Borah P (2011) Primer designing for PCR. Sci Vis 11:134–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrington DM, Auffret AEHD, Hanke DE (1985) Polypeptide ligation occurs during post-translational modification of concanavalin A. Nature 313:64–67

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cavada BS, Barbosa T, Arruda S, Grangeiro TB, Barral-Netto M (2001) Revisiting proteus: do minor changes in lectin structure matter in biological activity? Lessons from and potential biotechnological uses of the Diocleinae subtribe lectins. Curr Protein Pept Sci 2:123–135

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cavada BS, Pinto-Junior VR, Osterne VJ, Nascimento KS (2019) ConA-like lectins: high similarity proteins as models to study structure/biological activities relationships. Int J Mol Sci 20:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • de Almeida Gadelha CA, Moreno FBMB, Santi-Gadelha T, Cajazeiras JB, da Rocha BAM, Assreuy AMS, Mota MRL, Pinto NV, Meireles AVP, Borges JC, Freitas BT (2005) Native crystal structure of a nitric oxide-releasing lectin from the seeds of Canavalia maritima. J Struct Biol 152:185–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Dani M, Manca F, Rialdi G (1981) Calorimetric study of concanavalin A binding to saccharides. BBA Protein Struct 667:108–117

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Delatorre P, Rocha BA, Gadelha CA, Santi-Gadelha T, Cajazeiras JB, Souza EP, Nascimento KS, Freire VN, Sampaio AH, Azevedo WF Jr, Cavada BS (2006) Crystal structure of a lectin from Canavalia maritima (ConM) in complex with trehalose and maltose reveals relevant mutation in ConA-like lectins. J Struct Biol 154:280–286

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Derewenda Z, Yariv J, Helliwell JR, Kalb AJ, Dodson EJ, Papiz MZ, Wan T, Campbell J (1989) The structure of the saccharide-binding site of concanavalin A. EMBO J 8:2189–2193

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Efron B, Halloran E, Holmes S (1996) Bootstrap confidence levels for phylogenetic trees. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:13429–13429

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grangeiro TB, Schriefer A, Calvete JJ, Raida M, Urbanke C, Barral-Netto M, Cavada BS (1997) Molecular cloning and characterization of ConBr, the lectin of Canavalia brasiliensis seeds. Eur J Biochem 248:43–48

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hammer Ø, Harper DA, Ryan PD (2001) PAST: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontol Electron 4:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S, Stecher G, Tamura K (2016) MEGA7: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Mol Biol Evol 33:1870–1874

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mukherjee S, Zhang Y (2009) MM-align: a quick algorithm for aligning multiple-chain protein complex structures using iterative dynamic programming. Nucleic Acids Res 37:e83

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pinto NV, Santos CF, Cavada BS, Nascimento KSD, Junior FNP, de Freitas PA, Assreuy AMS (2013) Homologous Canavalia lectins elicit different patterns of antinociceptive responses. Nat Prod Commun 8:1621–1624

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rajaram N, Janardhanan K (1992) Nutritional and chemical evaluation of raw seeds of Canavalia gladiata (Jacq) DC. and C. ensiformis DC: the under utilized food and fodder crops in India. Plant Food Hum Nutr 42:329–336

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reeke GN, Becker JW, Edelman GM (1975) The covalent and three-dimensional structure of concanavalin A. IV. Atomic coordinates, hydrogen bonding, and quaternary structure. J Biol Chem 250:1525–1547

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reis EA, Athanazio DA, Cavada BS, Teixeira EH, Pinto VDPT, Carmo TM, Reis A, Trocolli G, Croda J, Harn D, Barral-Netto M (2008) Potential immunomodulatory effects of plant lectins in Schistosoma mansoni infection. Acta Trop 108:160–165

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rieger DK, Costa AP, Budni J, Moretti M, Barbosa SGR, Nascimento KS, Teixeira EH, Cavada BS, Rodrigues ALS, Leal RB (2014) Antidepressant-like effect of Canavalia brasiliensis (ConBr) lectin in mice: evidence for the involvement of the glutamatergic system. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 122:53–60

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Russi MA, Vandresen-Filho S, Rieger DK, Costa AP, Lopes MW, Cunha RM, Teixeira EH, Nascimento KS, Cavada BS, Tasca CI, Leal RB (2012) ConBr, a lectin from Canavalia brasiliensis seeds, protects against quinolinic acid-induced seizures in mice. Neurochem Res 37:288–297

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanz-Aparicio J, Hermoso J, Grangeiro TB, Calvete JJ, Cavada BS (1997) The crystal structure of Canavalia brasiliensis lectin suggests a correlation between its quaternary conformation and its distinct biological properties from Concanavalin A. FEBS Lett 405:114–118

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sauer J (1964) Revision of Canavalia. Brittonia 16:106–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Schrodinger LLC (2017) The PyMOL molecular graphics system, version 2.0. Schrodinger LLC, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Seena S, Sridhar KR, Jung K (2005) Nutritional and antinutritional evaluation of raw and processed seeds of a wild legume, Canavalia cathartica of coastal sand dunes of India. Food Chem 92:465–472

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sievers F, Wilm A, Dineen D, Gibson TJ, Karplus K, Li W, Lopez R, McWilliam H, Remmert M, Söding J, Thompson JD (2011) Fast, scalable generation of high-quality protein multiple sequence alignments using Clustal Omega. Mol Syst Biol 7:539

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Silva MTL, Osterne VJS, Nobre CAS, Chaves RP, Silva IB, Moreira CG, Andrade MLL, Nagano CS, Rocha CRC, Leal RB, Martins JL (2016) Structural characterization, docking and dynamics simulations of Canavalia bonariensis lectin. J Drug Des Res 3:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Snak C, Vatanparast M, Silva C, Lewis GP, Lavin M, Kajita T, de Queiroz LP (2016) A dated phylogeny of the papilionoid legume genus Canavalia reveals recent diversification by a pantropical liana lineage. Mol Phylogenet Evol 98:133–146

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Suvarna G, Sharma BB (2018) Concanavalin-A potential glycoprotein. J Proteins Proteom 9:77–90

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • The Plant List (2010) Database. https://www.theplantlist.org/ [Internet]. Accessed 1 Jan 2018

  • UniProt Consortium (2014) UniProt: a hub for protein information. Nucleic Acids Res 43:D204–D212

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamauchi D, Minamikawa T (1990) Structure of the gene encoding concanavalin A from Canavalia gladiata and its expression in Escherichia coli cells. FEBS Lett 260:127–130

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ye J, Coulouris G, Zaretskaya I, Cutcutache I, Rozen S, Madden TL (2012) Primer-BLAST: a tool to design target-specific primers for polymerase chain reaction. BMC Bioinform 13:134

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Skolnick J (2005) TM-align: a protein structure alignment algorithm based on the TM-score. Nucleic Acids Res 33:2302–2309

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Authors profusely thank Prof. K. R. Sridhar, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Biosciences, Mangalore University for comments and constructive suggestions for improvement of the manuscript.

Funding

The authors received no special funding for this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Studies, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Deralakatte, Mangalore, Karnataka, 575018, India

    Geetha Suvarna & Bhagya B. Sharma

Authors
  1. Geetha Suvarna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bhagya B. Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bhagya B. Sharma.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

42485_2020_41_MOESM1_ESM.jpg

Supplementary 1: Structural homology of concanavalins. Superimposed structures of concanavalins. ●CaBo; ●ConA; ●ConBr; ●ConC; ●ConG; ●ConM; ●Ca2+; ●Mn2+; Sugar binding domain is shown in red circle (JPG 136 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Suvarna, G., Sharma, B.B. An analogy of Canavalia lectins by molecular phylogenetic characterization. J Proteins Proteom 11, 193–203 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42485-020-00041-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42485-020-00041-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation