Background: The increase of the protein expression via ribosomal manipulation is one of the suggested cellular mechanisms involved in EnBase fed-batch mode of cultivation. However, this system has not been implemented for cytotoxic proteins.Objectives: Here, the expression pattern of α-Luffin, a ribosome inactivation protein (RIP) with an innate toxicity,...

The complete amino acid sequence of luffin-b has been determined. All the twenty-seven tryptic peptides were isolated by reverse-phase HPLC from the tryptic digests of intact luffin-b and one of its CNBr fragments (CB4), and sequenced using the DABITC/PITC double coupling method. The overlap of these peptides was achieved by analyzing the CNBr fragments and their chymotryptic peptides. Luffin-b...

In the creation of stable tolerance to MHC-incompatible allografts, reducing the large mass of donor-reactive cells via apoptosis is often required. Apoptosis induction by immunotoxins targeting surface molecules specifically presented on donor-reactive cytopathic T effector (T(eff)) cells is a promising strategy. Traditionally, the toxin moieties are bacterial exotoxins or plant-derived riboso...

The ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) are a group of proteins that are able to inactivate eukaryotic protein synthesis by attacking the 28S ribosomal RNA. Recent studies have shown that some RIPs possess strong anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity. In this study, several common plant RIPs including agrostin, gelonin, luffin, alpha-momorcharin, beta-momorcharin, saporin and trich...

Three new proteins which inhibit protein synthesis in rabbit reticulocyte lysates were isolated from an extract of sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica) seeds by chromatography on a AF-Blue Toyopearl column followed by FPLC with a Mono S column. These three protein-synthesis inhibitory proteins (PSIs) have molecular masses of 19 kDa, 15 kDa, and 9 kDa, and were designated 19K-PSI, 15K-PSI, and 9K-PSI...