TY - BOOK AU - Pinedo,Marcela AU - Orts,Facundo AU - Carvalho,André de Oliveira AU - Regente,Mariana AU - Soares,Julia Ribeiro AU - Gomes,Valdirene Moreira AU - Canal,Laura de la TI - Molecular characterization of Helja, an extracellular jacalin-related protein from Helianthus annuus: Insights into the relationship of this protein with unconventionally secreted lectins SN - 0176-1617 AV - QK711.2 JOU PY - 2015/// CY - Amsterdam PB - Elsevier GmbH KW - Apoplast KW - Extracellular proteins KW - Jacalin domain N2 - Jacalin-related lectins (JRLs) encompass cytosolic, nuclear and vacuolar members displaying the jacalin domain in one or more copies or in combination with unrelated domains. Helianthus annuus jacalin (Helja) is a mannose-specific JRL previously identified in the apoplast of Helianthus annuus seedlings, and this protein has been proposed to follow unconventional secretion. Here, we describe the full-length Helja cDNA sequence, which presents a unique jacalin domain (merolectin) and the absence of a signal peptide, confirming that the protein cannot follow the classical ER-dependent secretory pathway. Helja mRNA is present in seeds, cotyledons, roots and hypocotyls, but no transcripts were detected in the leaves. Searches for sequence similarity showed that Helja is barely similar to other JRLs present in H. annuus databases and less than 45% identical to other monocot or dicot JRLs. Strikingly, most of the merolectins recovered through data mining using Helja as a query were predicted as apoplastic, although most of these proteins lack the signal peptide required for classical secretion. Thus, Helja is the first bait identified to recover putative unconventionally secreted lectins. Because the recovered JRLs are widely distributed among the plant kingdom, an as yet unknown role for jacalin lectins in the apoplast is emerging UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jplph.2015.06.004 ER -