Abstract
Fungi establish a complex network of biological interactions with other organisms in nature. In many cases, these involve the production of toxins for survival or colonization purposes. Among these toxins, ribotoxins stand out as promising candidates for their use in biotechnological applications. They constitute a group of highly specific extracellular ribonucleases that target a universally conserved sequence of RNA in the ribosome, the sarcin-ricin loop. The detailed molecular study of this family of toxic proteins over the past decades has highlighted their potential in applied research. Remarkable examples would be the recent studies in the field of cancer research with promising results involving ribotoxin-based immunotoxins. On the other hand, some ribotoxin-producer fungi have already been studied in the control of insect pests. The recent role of ribotoxins as insecticides could allow their employment in formulas and even as baculovirus-based biopesticides. Moreover, considering the important role of their target in the ribosome, they can be used as tools to study how ribosome biogenesis is regulated and, eventually, may contribute to a better understanding of some ribosomopathies.
Highlights
Organisms populate almost any ecological niche of the planet and establish a high variety of biological interactions, ranging from mutualism to antagonism, mainly in search for resources to survive
[25,26,27], and mutational analyses have allowed the assignment of specific roles to different residues (Figure 1A) [25,26,27], and mutational analyses have allowed the assignment of specific roles to
In the case of ribotoxins, the eukaryotic ribosomal stalk does not participate in α-sarcin inactivation of the ribosome [8]. This result suggests that ribotoxins use a different mechanism of ribosome recognition than that used by plant ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) like ricin
Summary
Organisms populate almost any ecological niche of the planet and establish a high variety of biological interactions, ranging from mutualism to antagonism, mainly in search for resources to survive (light, nutrients, water, etc.). The ribonucleolytic activity of ribotoxins is extremely specific, targeting a sequence of rRNA, SRL, highly conserved in all ribosomes (Figure 2). The three-dimensional structure of several ribotoxins is known at atomic resolution [25,26,27], and mutational analyses have allowed the assignment of specific roles to different residues (Figure 1A) [25,26,27], and mutational analyses have allowed the assignment of specific roles to (implication in the catalysis, ribosome and SRL recognition, interaction with the cell membrane, etc.). Deletion of this positively charged region in α-sarcin produces α‐sarcin produces a non‐toxic but active ribonuclease with altered membrane interaction properties a non-toxic but active ribonuclease with altered membrane interaction properties [41]. Docking models using contact the GAGA tetraloop that isand cleaved by the toxin [42,45]
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