PLANT AGGLUTININS (LECTINS) I 67 



TABLE 5-3 

 Test of Lima Bean Extract (December 10, 1945) 



Reaction of extract with cells of group: 



A BO 



LH ± BD 



BR 



SJ 



ON 



BA 



CTS 



the process of writing the second edition of my book on immunology. 

 I did inckide a short and rather obscure reference to the observation 

 in the new edition (Boyd, 1947). 



After about two years, I returned to the study of the plant ag- 

 glutinins. In 1949, I published a report on 262 varieties of plants be- 

 longing to sixty-three families (Boyd and Reguera, 1949). Of 

 these plants, 191 showed no agglutinating activity. Some agglutinated 

 human erythrocytes of all blood groups. Extracts of certain varieties 

 of Phascolus limensis and Ph. lunatus agglutinated strongly only 

 blood of groups A and AB. One species only, Vitis aestivalis, gave a 

 weak reaction only with B, but I have not been able to reproduce 

 this result w^ith later material. 



Meanwhile, in 1948, Renkonen had published a paper dealing with 

 independent studies on fifty-seven species belonging to twenty-eight 

 genera. Among the blood group-specific plants he studied were Vicia 

 cracca, specific for A, and Laburnum alpiniim, Cytisiis scssijolius, 

 and Lotus tctragonolobus, specific for H. 



A number of laboratories are now engaged in the study of these 

 interesting substances. Reviews have been published by Krtipe 

 (1956), Makela (1957), and Bird (1959). Seeds of a number of 

 plants are reported to contain anti-A; that of Dolichos biflorus re- 

 acts so much more strongly with Ai than with Ao as to be virtually 

 specific for Aj (Bird 1951). An anti-N has been found in Vicia 

 graminea (Ottsooser and Silberschmidt, 1953) and, more recently, 

 in Bauhinia purpurea (Makela, 1957; Boyd, Everhart, and McMaster, 

 1958). An anti-M is on the market. 



