For a long time, plant lectin research concentrated on (i) the isolation and characterization of new carbohydrate binding proteins with interesting sugar binding and biological activities and (ii) the elucidation of the physiological role of different types of lectins from different species/taxa.
genetic code, the information carried by DNA that determines the specific amino acids and their sequence in each protein synthesized by an organism. The code consists of the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA molecule of each chromosome in the nucleus of every cell.
This information is held in the sequence of pieces of DNA called genes. Genetic information in genes is transmitted through complementary base pairing. For example, when a cell uses the information in a gene, the DNA sequence is copied into a complementary RNA sequence in a process called transcription. Usually, this RNA copy is then used to make a matching protein sequence in a process called translation.