The mushroom family Russulaceae is

The mushroom family Russulaceae is composed of two genera
RussulaandLactarius, the former being the greater majority. Four
lectins have been isolated from Lactariusspecies whereas none
has been reported fromRussulaspecies (Table 3). Lectins from
L. delicosusandL. deterrimusare 37-kDa dimeric proteins with
specificity toward b-D-galactosyl (l-3)-D-N-acetyl galactosamine (Giollant et al., 1993;Guillot et al., 1991).L. lignyotuslectin
is inhibited by desialylated mucin and fetuin and edible bird’s
nest glycoprotein but not by simple sugars (Sychrova´ et al., 1985).
L. rufus lectin is a 98-kDa hexamer with affinity toward
4-nitrophenyl-b-D-glucosamine anda- phenyl-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminopyranoside. It is stable in the pH range 4-10 and loses over
85% of its activity at 601C. It is not inhibited by divalent metal
ions (Panchak and Antoniuk, 2007). Hence RLL differs from the
aforementionedLactariusmushrooms in molecular weight, sugar
specificity, thermostability, and susceptibility to metal ions. RLL
has been tested for various biological activities whereasLactarius
lectins have not been similarly assayed.
In summary, a lectin with a distinctive N-terminal sequence,
sugar specificity, hemagglutinating activity with relatively high
thermostability and Cu
2+
-induced enhancement, and potent
antiproliferative and antitumor activities was isolated from
R. lepidafruiting bodies. The potent antitumor activity of RLL is
remarkable and hopefully it can be developed into an agent for
cancer therapy. This report represents an addition to the existing
list of mushroom lectins