Review: The multiple roles of plant lectins

Growing Maize Root: Lectins Involved in Consecutive Stages of Cell Development

“…Indeed, more than half of the legume genes were not expressed in the studied zones of maize root, and the other half were had a relatively low expression in comparison to members of other lectin families ( Table S1 ). A similar situation occurred with the Nictaba proteins; they are known as nucleocytoplasmic stress-inducible lectins and are hardly detectable in plants under unstressed conditions [ 14 ]. In maize root, all 18 identified genes were expressed (TGR > 16 in at least one sample), although several had an extremely low level (TGR about 20) ( Table S1 ).…”

“…In addition to the conventional plant lectin families—amaranthins, calreticulins, C-type lectins, the Euonymus europaeus lectin (EUL) family, the Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) family, the hevein family, the jacalin-related lectin family, the legume lectin family, the lysin motif (LysM) family, the Nicotiana tabacum agglutinin (Nictaba) family and RicinB lectin family [ 13 ]—our list was expanded by several other protein families. As was the case for Jiang et al, we added galactose-binding- and galectin-like-domain-containing proteins to the list, since in many non-plant organisms, these domains fully fit the definition of lectins as proteins carrying at least one carbohydrate-binding domain with no catalytic activity toward their own ligands [ 6 , 14 ]. In plant proteins, these domains occur in combination with additional domains characteristic of β-galactosidases and galactosyltransferases, respectively.…”

“…Among them, one of the largest families of maize lectins is the legume family, with 51 identified members. Mostly, legume lectin-domain-containing proteins are abundant in seeds and are present in low concentrations in other plant organs [ 14 ]. Indeed, more than half of the legume genes were not expressed in the studied zones of maize root, and the other half were had a relatively low expression in comparison to members of other lectin families ( Table S1 ).…”

“…This family mainly contains lectin receptor-like kinases or proteins with a role in the defense against pathogens. They contain one or a few tandem lectin domains that have a carbohydrate-binding activity toward chitin, chitin oligomers or peptidoglycan [ 14 ]. Among maize genes, one gene was found to have an F-box domain that is mostly involved in protein ubiquitination ( Table S1 ) [ 35 ].…”

“…Such lectins are present in small amounts and can be considered as components of signaling pathways, especially as many of them have kinase domains and are named lectin receptor-like kinases (LecRLK). Some members of the latter group are involved in plant–pathogen interactions [ 14 ]. However, proteins with lectin domains located within the cell wall are assumed to participate in the process of cell growth as demonstrated in A. thaliana for lectin receptor-like kinases Hercules receptor kinase 1 (HERK1), THESEUS1 (THE1), and FERONIA (FER) [ 1 ].…”