title: Fungal extracellular ribotoxins as insecticidal agents.
abstract: Fungal ribotoxins were discovered almost 50 years ago as extracellular ribonucleases (RNases) with antitumoral properties. However, the biological function of these toxic proteins has remained elusive. The discovery of the ribotoxin HtA, produced by the invertebrates pathogen Hirsutella thompsonii, revived the old proposal that insecticidal activity would be their long searched function. Unfortunately, HtA is rather singular among all ribotoxins known in terms of sequence and structure similarities. Thus, it was intriguing to answer the question of whether HtA is just an exception or, on the contrary, the paradigmatic example of the ribotoxins function. The work presented uses HtA and α-sarcin, the most representative member of the ribotoxins family, to show their strong toxic action against insect larvae and cells.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular I, Facultad de Química, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olombrada
authors.forename: Elías
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herrero-Galán
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tello
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oñaderra
authors.forename: José G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Gavilanes
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Martínez-del-Pozo
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: García-Ortega
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007306:Insecticides / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology; D009036:Moths; D009183:Mycotoxins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000187:drug effects; D061987:Sf9 Cells
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; C121692:Hirsutellin A protein, Hirsutella thompsonii; D007306:Insecticides; D009183:Mycotoxins; C014801:alpha-sarcin; D004722:Endoribonucleases