1 kDa) and α-lactoalbumin (14.4 kDa) were used as molecular mass standards. Following polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence Enzalutamide of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS–PAGE), LEF was transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) Hybond-P membrane (Amersham Biosciences) following the protocol described by Rybicki and Purves (1996) and stained with coomassie brilliant blue R-250. The protein

band corresponding to LEF (44 kDa) was excised from the membrane and analyzed by automated Edman degradation, using a Shimadzu PPSQ-21/23 automated protein sequencer (Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan). The amino acid sequence obtained was compared with other protein sequences deposited in the SWISS-PROT/TREMBL databases using the FASTA 3 and BLAST programs. Hemagglutination activity check details was measured by a serial dilution procedure using a 2% suspension of trypsin-treated rabbit erythrocytes as previously described (Carbonaro et al., 2000) with some modifications. The assay was done in polystyrene microtiter U-bottomed 96-well plates and agglutination was visualized after 12 h. One hemagglutination unit (1 HU) was taken as the highest dilution giving complete agglutination of trypsin-treated rabbit erythrocytes. Before the hemagglutination assay, two-fold serially diluted carbohydrate or glycoprotein samples (25 μL) in 150 mM NaCl were incubated for 30 min at 25 °C with 25 μL of LEF dissolved in 25 mM

Tris–HCl, pH 7.5. The minimal concentration of carbohydrate or glycoprotein in the final reaction mixture capable of completely inhibiting 4 HU was recorded. LEF solutions containing 0.0124 mg protein/mL in 25 mM Tris–HCl, pH 7.5, were heated at 70, 80, and 90 °C, from 5 to 60 min, at 5 min intervals. After cooling to 25 °C, heptaminol the residual hemagglutination activity was assayed. LEF solutions containing 0.0124 mg protein/mL in 25 mM Tris–HCl, pH 7.5, were incubated for 60 min at 25 °C, in the presence of the reducing agent DTT at final concentrations of 5, 10, 50 and 100 mM and the residual hemagglutination activity measured. LEF (1 mg) was incubated with 500 μL of pepsin (0.02 mg/mL of 100 mM HCl, pH 1.8) at 37 °C. After 2 h incubation, two 250 μL aliquots were withdrawal from the

reaction mixture and 250 μL of 250 mM Tris–HCl, pH 8.9, were added to adjust pH to 8.0. Then 250 μL of a trypsin + chymotrypsin solution (0.02 mg/mL for each enzyme in 250 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.9) were added to one of the pepsin hydrolysate (250 μL) and incubated for further 3 h, at 37 °C. The hemagglutinantion activity was analyzed for the hydrolyzates of LEF obtained after pepsin and pepsin followed by trypsin + chymotrypsin treatments. LEF (5 mg) was dissolved in 0.2 μL of 25 mM Tris–HCl, pH 7.5, containing 0.4 μL of D2O. The NMR data were recorded using a Bruker Avance DPX300 spectrometer operating in the frequency of 1H, at 300 MHz, to detect possible contamination by toxic secondary metabolite (swainsonine and calystegines, for example).