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The Non-Identity of Jack Bean Agglutinin with Crystalline Urease

From the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Medical College, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Abstract

Hotchkiss and Tauber (1) have stated that crystalline urease agglutinates washed rabbit and mouse erythrocytes, but not those of sheep. As little as 0.00014 mgm. of urease is said to have caused a perceptible effect. This work is quite erroneous. We find that washed rabbit and dog erythrocytes are not agglutinated in the slightest when incubated for two hours at 37°C. with as much as 3 mgm. of recrystallized urease.

It is true that the jack bean, like many other beans, contains a substance which agglutinates red cells. This is thermolabile and non-dialyzable. We have obtained it in solution in such concentration that 1 cc. will cause an almost complete agglutination of 5 cc. of 2 per cent erythrocyte suspension in five minutes at room temperature. Diluted 100 times the material will produce an agglutination detectable by microscope within thirty minutes at 37°C. This 100-fold diluted solution contained only about 0.00015 mgm. of urease per cubic centimeter.