Wheat Germ Agglutinin, AF488 Labeled

Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) is a lectin that binds to N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and sialic acid. It is of the most studied and useful lectins for it biological applications. Since WGA binds to glycoconjugates its derivatives and conjugates are widely used to label cell membranes and fibrotic scar tissue for fluorescence imaging and analysis. The carbohydrate-binding specificity of WGA is directed against sequences of beta-1,4-GlcNAc-linked residues, the chitodextrins. Each monomer contains two identical, non-interacting binding sites which are complementary to 3 or 4 beta-1,4-GlcNAc units. Of the monosaccharides examined, only GlcNAc binds to WGA. ManNAc does not bind and GalNAc binds only weakly. AF488 conjugate of WGA is equivalent to the Alexa Fluor(R) 488 conjugate of WGA . It exhibits the bright, green fluorescence of the Alexa Fluor(R) 488 dye (Alexa Fluor(R) is the trademark of ThermoFisher). AF488 WGA conjugate binds to sialic acid and N-acetylglucosaminyl residues.