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Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry (2002) 35, (45–53) (Printed in Great Britain)

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Cashew-tree (Anacardium occidentale L.) exudate gum: a novel bioligand tool

Raquel da Silveira Nogueira Lima¹, Jacira Rabelo Lima, Celio Ribeiro de Salis and Renato de Azevedo Moreira

Lectins and glycoconjugates Laboratory (LABLEC), Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, Block 907, P.O. Box 6020, Fortaleza, Ceará 60455–900, Brazil

Key words: bioaffinity ligand, lectin.

¹To whom correspondence should be addressed (e-mail rsnlima@yahoo.com).

The potential of bioaffinity as a tool for the study of biological-recognition mechanisms is gaining increasing value. The search continues for alternative products that can be obtained from renewable sources, such as the bark exudate gum from the cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale L.), which grows wild in many tropical and subtropical countries. Its potential use as a chromatographic matrix and/or for bioaffinity ligand for proteins (lectins) has been investigated. The crude gum was cross-linked in order to obtain a kind of chromatographic matrix (gel). To evaluate the gum's ability to retain glycoproteins (lectins), affinity chromatography was performed and, in addition, the reological behaviour of the gum was characterized.

Received 30 April 2001; accepted 25 September 2001

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