Crystal structure of fucose-specific lectin from Aleuria aurantia binding ligands at three of its five sugar recognition sites.

Aleuria aurantia possesses a fucose-specific lectin (AAL) that is widely used as a specific probe for fucose. Fucosylated sugars often play pivotal roles in many cellular processes. We have determined the crystal structure of AAL at 2.

X-ray crystallographic characterization and phasing of a fucose-specific lectin from Aleuria aurantia.

A fucose-specific lectin from Aleuria aurantia was crystallized in its native form and was also cocrystallized with HgCl(2). Crystallization was performed using the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method with ammonium sulfate as a precipitant. Both the Hg-free native crystals and the Hg cocrystals belong to the hexagonal space group P6(5)22.