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phytohaemagglutinin

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Also known as phytohemagglutinin, PHA

Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA, or phytohemagglutinin) is a lectin found in plants, especially certain legumes. PHA actually consists of two closely related proteins, called leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) and PHA-E. These proteins cause blood cells to clump together. PHA-E cause erythrocytes (red blood cells) to clump. PHA-L causes leukocytes (white blood cells) to clump. Phytohaemagglutinin has carbohydrate-binding specificity for a complex oligosaccharide containing galactose, N-acetylglucosamine, and mannose.

Key facts

Protein family.Symbol
Lectin_legB
Protein family.Name
Legume lectin domain
Protein family.image
phytohemagglutinin L.png
Protein family.caption
Crystal structure of PHA-L (PDB 1fat)
Protein family.Pfam
PF00139
Protein family.Pfam_clan
CL0004
Protein family.InterPro
IPR001220
Protein family.PROSITE
PDOC00278
Protein family.SCOP
1lem

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Subclass of
hemagglutinin
Show 1 more fact
Commons category
Phytohemagglutinins
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

7 sections
Contents
  • Toxicity
  • Uses
  • Lymphocyte division
  • Neuron tracing
  • History
  • References
  • External links

Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA, or phytohemagglutinin) is a lectin found in plants, especially certain legumes. PHA actually consists of two closely related proteins, called leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) and PHA-E. These proteins cause blood cells to clump together. PHA-E cause erythrocytes (red blood cells) to clump. PHA-L causes leukocytes (white blood cells) to clump. Phytohaemagglutinin has carbohydrate-binding specificity for a complex oligosaccharide containing galactose, N-acetylglucosamine, and mannose.

PHA is found in the highest concentrations in uncooked red kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and another variety of Phaseolus vulgaris, white kidney beans (also known as cannellini), and it is also found in lower quantities in many other types of common green beans, such as broad beans (Vicia faba) also known as fava beans. PHA has a number of physiological effects and is used in medical research. In high doses, it is a toxin.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “phytohaemagglutinin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.