Ribotoxins are a more widespread group of proteins within the filamentous fungi than previously believed.
Alpha-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 different species of fungi. The presence of ribotoxins has been identified 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 specific and potent toxins, of unknown biological function. These studies confirm the hypothesis that these proteins are naturally engineered toxins derived from ribonucleases of broad substrate specificity.
Martínez-Ruiz
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Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular I, Facultad de Química, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Kao
R
R
Davies
J
J
Martínez del Pozo
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D000485:Allergens; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000032:analysis; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000737:chemistry; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000032:analysis; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D005658:Fungi / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010407:Penicillium / Q000737:chemistry; D010802:Phylogeny; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012260:Ribonucleases / Q000032:analysis; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000187:drug effects*; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry
C081947:ASPF1 protein, Aspergillus fumigatus; D000485:Allergens; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C014801:alpha-sarcin; C036196:MITF protein, Aspergillus restrictus; D004722:Endoribonucleases; D012260:Ribonucleases