**7. Sugar binding activity and specificity of plant lectins**

Broadly reveal, lectins can be divided into those that bind monosaccharides as well as oligosaccharides, and those that recognize oligosaccharides only (Wu et al., 2001). It is noteworthy that almost all saccharides recognized by lectins are typical constituents of animal cell surfaces. This is perhaps a reflection of the method commonly used for lectin detection (Tsivion and Sharon, 1981), as a result of which lectins recognizing sugars not present on erythrocytes might have been overlooked.
