Four distinct lectins have been identified and isolated from the seeds of the tropical African leguminous plant Griffonia simplicifolia. Two of these four have been thoroughly characterized and are often utilized in the laboratory, especially the lectin known as GS-II. A tetramer composed of identical subunits, GS-II binds specifically to terminal alpha- or beta-linked N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. Unlike many other lectins, including the closely related GS-I, GS-II is not blood group specific. Fluorescent conjugates of GS-II frequently gain usage in cell biology as selective stains for the Golgi apparatus.

In the digital image above, the culture of normal pig kidney epithelial cells displayed was labeled with Oregon Green conjugated to lectin GS-II, targeting the Golgi network. The culture was additionally labeled for the cytoskeletal filamentous actin network with Alexa Fluor 568 conjugated to phalloidin, and for nuclear DNA with the ultraviolet-absorbing probe DAPI. Images were recorded in grayscale with a QImaging Retiga Fast-EXi camera system coupled to an Olympus BX-51 microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks provided by Omega Optical. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.