Purification of galacto-specific lectins by affinity membranes

This work has been focussed on the separation of galactose-specific lectins through affinity membranes. Different lectins and different supports have been studied in batch and dynamic adsorption and desorption experiments. Equilibrium data were well interpolated by Langmuir isotherm and the parameters qm (maximum binding capacity) and KD (dissociation constant) were determined. Among the different ligands studied, arabinogalactan gives a better performance, especially towards MCL. Elution remains the critical step for these membranes and still needs to be optimised. The affinity membranes presented in this work should be tested directly with the aqueous seeds extract in order to investigate the selectivity towards the target protein.