Skip to main content

Purification of Recombinant Galectins from Different Species Using Distinct Affinity Chromatography Methods

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Galectins

Abstract

Galectins are lectins having the capacity to recognize β-galactose-containing glycan structures and are widely distributed among various taxa. However, the exact physiological and biochemical functions mediated by galectins that necessitate their wide occurrence among diverse species have not yet been delineated in a precise manner. Purification of recombinant galectins in active form is a fundamental requirement to elucidate their biological function. In this chapter, we are describing methods to recombinantly express and purify galectins using three different methods of affinity purification, i.e., lactosyl-Sepharose chromatography for fungal galectin Coprinopsis cinerea galectin 2 (CGL2), nickel-chromatography for histidine-tagged human galectin-7, and glutathione-Sepharose chromatography for Glutathione S-transferase-tagged (GST-tagged) human galectin-7. Step-by-step instructions are provided for obtaining the above-mentioned recombinant galectins that retain carbohydrate-binding activity and are suitable for conducting biochemical experiments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Barondes SH, Castronovo V, Cooper DN, Cummings RD, Drickamer K, Feizi T, Gitt MA, Hirabayashi J, Hughes C, Kasai K et al (1994) Galectins: a family of animal beta-galactoside-binding lectins. Cell 76(4):597–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(94)90498-7

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Cooper DN, Barondes SH (1999) God must love galectins; he made so many of them. Glycobiology 9(10):979–984. https://doi.org/10.1093/glycob/9.10.979

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Robinson BS, Arthur CM, Evavold B, Roback E, Kamili NA, Stowell CS, Vallecillo-Zuniga ML, Van Ry PM, Dias-Baruffi M, Cummings RD, Stowell SR (2019) The sweet-side of leukocytes: galectins as master regulators of neutrophil function. Front Immunol 10:1762. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.01762

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Srejovic I, Selakovic D, Jovicic N, Jakovljevic V, Lukic ML, Rosic G (2020) Galectin-3: roles in neurodevelopment, neuroinflammation, and behavior. Biomolecules 10(5):798. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10050798

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Stowell SR, Arthur CM, Dias-Baruffi M, Rodrigues LC, Gourdine JP, Heimburg-Molinaro J, Ju T, Molinaro RJ, Rivera-Marrero C, Xia B, Smith DF, Cummings RD (2010) Innate immune lectins kill bacteria expressing blood group antigen. Nat Med 16(3):295–301. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2103

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Rabinovich GA, Liu FT, Hirashima M, Anderson A (2007) An emerging role for galectins in tuning the immune response: lessons from experimental models of inflammatory disease, autoimmunity and cancer. Scand J Immunol 66(2–3):143–158. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3083.2007.01986.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Levi G, Teichberg VI (1981) Isolation and physicochemical characterization of electrolectin, a beta-D-galactoside binding lectin from the electric organ of electrophorus electricus. J Biol Chem 256(11):5735–5740

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Nowak TP, Kobiler D, Roel LE, Barondes SH (1977) Developmentally regulated lectin from embryonic chick pectoral muscle. Purification by affinity chromatography. J Biol Chem 252(17):6026–6030

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. de Waard A, Hickman S, Kornfeld S (1976) Isolation and properties of beta-galactoside binding lectins of calf heart and lung. J Biol Chem 251(23):7581–7587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cooper DN, Boulianne RP, Charlton S, Farrell EM, Sucher A, Lu BC (1997) Fungal galectins, sequence and specificity of two isolectins from Coprinus cinereus. J Biol Chem 272(3):1514–1521. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.272.3.1514

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Walser PJ, Haebel PW, Kunzler M, Sargent D, Kues U, Aebi M, Ban N (2004) Structure and functional analysis of the fungal galectin CGL2. Structure 12(4):689–702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2004.03.002

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Freymann DM, Nakamura Y, Focia PJ, Sakai R, Swanson GT (2012) Structure of a tetrameric galectin from Cinachyrella sp. (ball sponge). Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr 68(Pt 9):1163–1174. https://doi.org/10.1107/S0907444912022834

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Hirabayashi J, Ubukata T, Kasai K (1996) Purification and molecular characterization of a novel 16-kDa galectin from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. J Biol Chem 271(5):2497–2505. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.271.5.2497

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Feng C, Ghosh A, Amin MN, Giomarelli B, Shridhar S, Banerjee A, Fernandez-Robledo JA, Bianchet MA, Wang LX, Wilson IB, Vasta GR (2013) The galectin CvGal1 from the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) binds to blood group A oligosaccharides on the hemocyte surface. J Biol Chem 288(34):24394–24409. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M113.476531

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Stowell SR, Arthur CM, McBride R, Berger O, Razi N, Heimburg-Molinaro J, Rodrigues LC, Gourdine JP, Noll AJ, von Gunten S, Smith DF, Knirel YA, Paulson JC, Cummings RD (2014) Microbial glycan microarrays define key features of host-microbial interactions. Nat Chem Biol 10(6):470–476. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1525

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Arthur CM, Cummings RD, Stowell SR (2014) Using glycan microarrays to understand immunity. Curr Opin Chem Biol 18:55–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2013.12.017

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Kamili NA, Arthur CM, Gerner-Smidt C, Tafesse E, Blenda A, Dias-Baruffi M, Stowell SR (2016) Key regulators of galectin-glycan interactions. Proteomics 16(24):3111–3125. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.201600116

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Hsieh TJ, Lin HY, Tu Z, Lin TC, Wu SC, Tseng YY, Liu FT, Hsu ST, Lin CH (2016) Dual thio-digalactoside-binding modes of human galectins as the structural basis for the design of potent and selective inhibitors. Sci Rep 6:29457. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep29457

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Hsieh TJ, Lin HY, Tu Z, Huang BS, Wu SC, Lin CH (2015) Structural basis underlying the binding preference of human Galectins-1, -3 and -7 for Galbeta1-3/4GlcNAc. PLoS One 10(5):e0125946. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125946

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Verkerke H, Horwath M, Saeedi B, Boyer D, Allen JW, Owens J, Arthur CM, Nakahara H, Rha J, Patel K, Wu SC, Paul A, Yasin N, Wang J, Shin S, Brown D, Normile K, Cole L, Meyers M, Lin H, Woods E, Isaac J, Broder K, Wade J, Kauffman RC, Patel R, Josephson CD, Reynolds S, Sherman M, Wrammert J, Alter D, Guarner J, Roback JD, Neish A, Stowell SR (2021) Comparison of antibody class specific SARS-CoV-2 serology for the diagnosis of acute COVID-19. J Clin Microbiol 59(4):e02026-20. https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.02026-20

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Verkerke H, Saeedi B, Boyer D, Allen JW, Owens J, Shin S, Horwath M, Patel K, Paul A, Wu S, Wang J, Ho A, Arthur CM, Roback JD, Neish AS, Lough C, Josephson CD, Stowell SR (2021) Are we forgetting about IgA? A re-examination of COVID-19 convalescent plasma. Transfusion 61(6):1740–1748

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Allen JWL, Verkerke H, Owens J, Saeedi B, Boyer D, Shin S, Roback JD, Neish AS, Stowell SR (2021) Serum pooling for rapid expansion of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing capacity. Transfus Clin Biol 28(1):51–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tracli.2020.10.008

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Magnaldo T, Fowlis D, Darmon M (1998) Galectin-7, a marker of all types of stratified epithelia. Differentiation 63(3):159–168. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1432-0436.1998.6330159.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Wu SC, Paul A, Ho A, Patel KR, Allen JWL, Verkerke H, Arthur CM, Stowell SR (2021) Generation and use of recombinant galectins. Curr Protoc 1(3):e63. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpz1.63

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Harper S, Speicher DW (2011) Purification of proteins fused to glutathione S-transferase. Methods Mol Biol 681:259–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-913-0_14

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Poland PA, Rondanino C, Kinlough CL, Heimburg-Molinaro J, Arthur CM, Stowell SR, Smith DF, Hughey RP (2011) Identification and characterization of endogenous galectins expressed in Madin Darby canine kidney cells. J Biol Chem 286(8):6780–6790. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M110.179002

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Poland PA, Kinlough CL, Hughey RP (2015) Cloning, expression, and purification of galectins for in vitro studies. Methods Mol Biol 1207:37–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1396-1_2

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Stowell SR, Karmakar S, Arthur CM, Ju T, Rodrigues LC, Riul TB, Dias-Baruffi M, Miner J, McEver RP, Cummings RD (2009) Galectin-1 induces reversible phosphatidylserine exposure at the plasma membrane. Mol Biol Cell 20(5):1408–1418. https://doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E08-07-0786

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Stowell SR, Karmakar S, Stowell CJ, Dias-Baruffi M, McEver RP, Cummings RD (2007) Human galectin-1, -2, and -4 induce surface exposure of phosphatidylserine in activated human neutrophils but not in activated T cells. Blood 109(1):219–227. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2006-03-007153

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Stowell SR, Cho M, Feasley CL, Arthur CM, Song X, Colucci JK, Karmakar S, Mehta P, Dias-Baruffi M, McEver RP, Cummings RD (2009) Ligand reduces galectin-1 sensitivity to oxidative inactivation by enhancing dimer formation. J Biol Chem 284(8):4989–4999. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M808925200

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Stowell SR, Arthur CM, Mehta P, Slanina KA, Blixt O, Leffler H, Smith DF, Cummings RD (2008) Galectin-1, -2, and -3 exhibit differential recognition of sialylated glycans and blood group antigens. J Biol Chem 283(15):10109–10123. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M709545200

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Arthur CM, Rodrigues LC, Baruffi MD, Sullivan HC, Heimburg-Molinaro J, Smith DF, Cummings RD, Stowell SR (2015) Examining galectin binding specificity using glycan microarrays. Methods Mol Biol 1207:115–131. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1396-1_8

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants R01 HL154034 to CMA and U01 CA242109 to SRS.

Conflict of Interest

No conflict of interest declared.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sean R. Stowell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this protocol

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this protocol

Paul, A. et al. (2022). Purification of Recombinant Galectins from Different Species Using Distinct Affinity Chromatography Methods. In: Stowell, S.R., Arthur, C.M., Cummings, R.D. (eds) Galectins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2442. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2055-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2055-7_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2054-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2055-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics