Antifungal activity of alpha-sarcin against Penicillium digitatum: proposal of a new role for fungal ribotoxins.

Antifungal activity of alpha-sarcin against Penicillium digitatum: proposal of a new role for fungal ribotoxins.

ACS Chem Biol. 2018 Jun 28;:

Authors: Citores L, Iglesias R, Ragucci S, Di Maro A, Ferreras JM

Abstract
Among the putative defense proteins that occur in fungi, one of the best studied is α-sarcin, produced by the mold Aspergillus giganteus. This protein is the most significant member of the ribotoxin family, extracellular rRNA ribonucleases that display cytotoxic activity towards animal cells. Ribotoxins are rRNA endonucleases that catalyse the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bond between G4325 and A4326 from the rat 28S rRNA. The results of several experimental approaches have led to propose ribotoxins as insecticidal agents. In this work, we report that α-sarcin displays a strong antifungal activity against Penicillium digitatum, being able to enter into the cytosol where it inactivates the ribosomes, thus killing the cells and arresting the growth of the fungus. This is the first time that a ribotoxin has been found to display antifungal activity. Therefore this protein could play, besides the already proposed insecticidal function, a role in nature as an antifungal agent.

PMID: 29952541 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]

Source: Industry