Agglutination of Sake Yeast by Lectin from Helianthus tuberosus Tuber

Lectin isolated from the Helianthustuberosus tuber (tHTA) is a mannose/glucose-binding lectin that has a very similar saccharide binding specificity to lectin isolated from callus (cHTA). In this study, we showed that tHTA had a very similar yeast agglutinating-activity to cHTA at a suitable pH and yeast density. However, we found that tHTA could agglutinate all the sake yeast strains tested and its ability was not effected by trypsintreatment of yeast, on the other hand cHTA could agglutinate some sake yeast strains that had been treated with trypsin that were known to adhere to the surface of air bubbles.