Ribotoxins are a more widespread group of proteins within the filamentous fungi than previously believed

Martínez Ruiz, Antonio; Richard Kao; Julian Davies; Martínez Del Pozo, Álvaro

Ribotoxins are a more widespread group of proteins within the filamentous fungi than previously believed

Download

08 - 1999_Toxicon_ribotoxins.pdf (237.67 KB)

Publication date

1999

Authors

Martínez Ruiz, Antonio

Richard Kao

Julian Davies

Martínez Del Pozo, Álvaro

Citations

Exportar

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/102700

Citation

A. Martínez-Ruiz et al. Toxicon 37, 11 (1999) 1549-1563

Abstract

a-Sarcin, restrictocin and mitogillin are the best known members of the family of fungal ribotoxins. In recent years, new members of this family have been discovered and characterised. In this work, we study the occurrence of ribotoxins among di erent species of fungi. The presence of ribotoxins has been identi®ed in some new species by means of genetic studies, as well as expression and activity assays. The ribotoxin genes have been partially sequenced, and demonstrate a high degree of similarity. These studies demonstrate that these toxins are more widespread than previously considered. This is surprising, considering the ribotoxins are such speci®c and potent toxins, of unknown biological function. These studies con®rm the hypothesis that these proteins are naturally engineered toxins derived from ribonucleases of broad substrate speci®city.