Isolation and Characterization of agglutinin and ricin from Ricinus communis

Abstract

Lectins exhibit a promising diagonistic and therapeutic approach for treating cancer . Lectins found, almost in all organisms. On the surface of the cell lectins are attached with their sugar binding site. Lectins are found to be toxic, as it is poisonous, it results in the death of cells both in vivo and in vitro. Leguminous plant serve as the main source of lectin, most of the lectins are derived from seed, present in cytoplasm of the seed. Ricin is the toxic lectin which is derieved from the castor bean plant Ricinus communis belong to the family of Euphorbiaceae. The toxicity of ricin is bound with their two chain A and B chain. The A and B chains of ricin, more toxic to mammalian cells. The study of this project encompasses the purification of ricin through affinity chromatography, characterization of ricin through haemagglutination assay and SDS-PAGE. B chain of ricin bind to the sugar residue on the cell surface of red blood cell .The cytotoxicity on cancer cells is yet to be explored in order to showcase its anti-cancer property.