The glycosyl moiety of lectin from sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia, Scop.).

A lectin isolated from the seeds of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia, Scop. var Eski) has been shown to be a glycoprotein containing 2.6% (w/w) neutral carbohydrate and 1.6% (w/w) glucosamine (Hapner, K.D. and Robbins, J.E. (1979) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 580, 186--197) A homogeneous glycopeptide accounting for 70% of the original glycoprotein carbohydrate was isolated from pronase digests of the lectin by gel filtration chromatography. Gas-liquid chromatographic and amino acid analyses showed the glycosyl portion to contain glucosamine, mannose, xylose and fucose in molar ratio to glycopeptide of 1.8 : 1.8 : 0.7 : 0.9. The amino acid sequence was determined as H2N-Ser-Asn(glycosyl)-glu-Thr-COOH. The glycosyl moiety was attached to the peptide through N-glycosidic linkage between asparagine and glucosamine.