A toxic protein from Bryonia dioica Jacq. fruits: the brydiofin.
A toxic protein isolated from Bryonia dioica Jacq. fruits is described. The fruit extract, obtained in phosphate buffer saline, in mild conditions, showed a strongly toxic activity after intraperitoneal injection of 0.4 mg per Balb/c mouse that was killed in eighteen minutes. The extract, filtered through a Bio-Gel P-60 column, presented a main peak that showed similar toxicity. When the material from this peak was analyzed in polyacrylamide slab gels, a single band corresponding to a molecular weight of about 66,000 was observed. The lethal effect of B. dioica fruit could be attributed to a protein that we called Brydiofin. The extracts from roots and leaves that did not present this toxicity showed no band in this molecular weight region.
Muñoz
S M
SM
Dpto. de Investigación, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain.
Salvarelli
S M
SM
Saiz
M I
MI
Conde
F P
FP
D000818:Animals; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*; D010947:Plants, Toxic / Q000737:chemistry*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D010940:Plant Proteins; C074051:brydiofin protein, Bryonia dioica