Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol 49, 1473-1480, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
L Frigerio and L Roberts
Ricin, a ribosome-inactivating protein from the seeds of the castor oil
plant (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the most potent
cell poisons known. It is able to bind and enter most mammalian cells where
it exploits their fully reversible secretory pathway to reach the
endoplasmic reticulum. Ricin is then able to exit the endoplasmic reticulum
to access the cytosol where it inhibits protein synthesis, thus killing the
cells. Castor bean ribosomes are sensitive to ricin, but the plant has
developed strategies to protect its own cells from suicide. The
intracellular routing of ricin has been traditionally studied by
exogenously adding toxin to mammalian cells and by following its path
through the cell. However, the extreme potency of this protein has
prevented the final membrane transport step from being studied in detail.
Now, the expression of ricin in heterologous plant cells is providing
helpful in elucidating details of both toxin biosynthesis and vacuolar
targeting, and in studying membrane translocation of the catalytic subunit
from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cytosol.Keywords:
Ricin, ribosome-inactivating protein, castor oil plant, seeds,
inhibitor, membrane transport.
ARTICLES
The enemy within: ricin and plant cells
Istituto Biosintesi Vegetali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Corresponding author; Fax: +44 1203 523568; E-mail: lm@dna.bio.warwick.ac.uk
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