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A Novel Family of Lectins Evolutionarily Related to Class V Chitinases: An Example of Neofunctionalization in Legumes^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Glycobiology, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium (E.J.M.V.D., W.J.P.); Surfaces Cellulaires et Signalisation chez les Végétaux, Unité Mixte de Recherche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paul Sabatier 5546, Pôle de Biotechnologies Végétales, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France (R.C., A.B., P.R.); and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma, Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104 (R.A.)

A lectin has been identified in black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) bark that shares approximately 50% sequence identity with plant class V chitinases but is essentially devoid of chitinase activity. Specificity studies indicated that the black locust chitinase-related agglutinin (RobpsCRA) preferentially binds to high-mannose N-glycans comprising the proximal pentasaccharide core structure. Closely related orthologs of RobpsCRA could be identified in the legumes Glycine max, Medicago truncatula, and Lotus japonicus but in no other plant species, suggesting that this novel lectin family most probably evolved in an ancient legume species or possibly an earlier ancestor. This identification of RobpsCRA not only illustrates neofunctionalization in plants, but also provides firm evidence that plants are capable of developing a sugar-binding domain from an existing structural scaffold with a different activity and accordingly sheds new light on the molecular evolution of plant lectins.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Els J.M. Van Damme (elsjm.vandamme{at}ugent.be).

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.106.087981

^* Corresponding author; e-mail elsjm.vandamme{at}ugent.be; fax 32–92646219.

Received August 4, 2006; accepted November 4, 2006; published November 10, 2006.

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