Lectin cells. Many legume seeds have been proven to contain high lectin activity, termed "hemagglutination." Soybean is the most important grain legume crop in this category. Its seeds contain high activity of soybean lectins (soybean agglutinin or SBA). SBA is able to disrupt small intestinal metabolism and damage small intestinal villi via the ability of lectins to bind with brush border surfaces in the distal part of small intestine. Lectin Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins, macromolecules that are highly specific for sugar moieties of other molecules. Lectins perform recognition on the cellular and molecular level and play numerous roles in biological recognition
Keratin used as fluorescent markers to distinguish subsets of TECs in genetic studies of the thymus. Additionally, the baleen plates of filter-feeding whales are made of keratin. Keratins (also described as cytokeratins) are polymers of type I and type II intermediate filaments, which have only been found in the genomes of chordates (vertebrates, Amphioxus, urochordates). Nematodes and many other non-chordate animals seem to only have type VI intermediate filaments, lamins, which have a long rod domain (vs. a short rod domain for the keratins). The human genome encodes 54 functional keratin genes which are located in two clusters on chromosomes 12