Daucus Carrota (Carrot) — A Selective Bacteriosorbent

Abstract

The importance of receptor specific proteins, lectins, present in plants and animals has been increasingly recognized as a tool for cell biologists (1–4). Their functions, however, have remained a mystery but during the last few years, some important observations have been made which were recently reviewed (5). The possible role of lectins in naturally occurring recognition processes, such as in the development of symbiotic relationships, has been considered (6). In saliva, substances are present which can agglutinate certain bacteria and their similarity with lectins has been pointed out (7). In the present report, experiments are presented which illustrate further effects of lectin-like substances. It is shown that Daucus carrota (carrot) contains a substance which agglutinates certain oral streptococci and that it selectively adsorbs such bacteria from mixtures. This may be an example of a phenomenon which has implications for the composition of the oral microflora.

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