Amino acid sequence and variant forms of favin, a lectin from Vicia faba.

We have determined the complete amino acid sequence (182 residues) of the beta chain of favin, the glucose-binding lectin from fava beans (Vicia faba), and have established that the carbohydrate moiety is attached to Asn 168. Together with the sequence of the alpha chain previously reported (Hemperly, J. J., Hopp, T. P., Becker, J. W., and Cunningham, B. A. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 6803-6810), these data complete the analysis of the primary structure of the lectin. We have also examined minor polypeptides that appear in all preparations of favin. Two lower molecular weight species (Mr = 9,500-11,600) appear to be fragments of the beta chain resulting from cleavage following Asn 76, whereas six high molecular weight forms (Mr = 25,000 or greater) appear to include aggregates of the beta chain and possibly some alternative products of chain processing.