Studies on Lectin Mediated Agglutination Reaction on Red Blood Cell Surface Antigens Using Hot and Cold Water Plant Extracts

Abstract

Lectin has various physiological roles in cell agglutination, based on their carbohydrate-binding properties, plant lectins are widely used for the detection, segregation, and characterization of glycoconjugates. Rhesus (Rh) factor is a protein that is inherited and found on the surface of red blood cells. If the surface protein is present, the RBC is Rh positive; otherwise, it is Rh-negative in nature. In this paper, we use agglutination reactions to investigate the effect of different cold and hot water extracted plants on RBC antigens as an alternative to commercial monoclonal antibodies. Extensive research on the sequence homology and 3-D structure of various plant lectins suggests that they have been conserved throughout evolution and may play important physiological roles that are still unknown.