A circular dichroic investigation of the secondary structure of lectins

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Abstract
The far‐uv CD spectra of eight lectins are presented. These eight lectins, as well as others previously studied, are grouped into three classes according to their particular CD spectra. The eight lectins studied appeared to have secondary structure dominated by β‐pleated sheet, which so far has been true of all lectins. An attempt was made to quantitate the three structural components (α‐helix, β‐pleated sheet, and aperiodic) in the lectins using the data for reference proteins given by Chen et al. [Biochemistry 13,3350 (1974)]. For lectins in two of the classes, this method proved excellent and values for the three components are given. However, for the third class of lectins, which includes most of the lectins as well as Concanavalin A, this method of analysis proved to be unsatisfactory. This inadequacy was due to two factors: (1) the reference proteins used by Chen and (2) the unusual CD spectra of these lectins manifested by considerable ellipticity above 225 nm in a region where there are no known peptide electronic transitions.