Year: 1978
Type: article
Abstract: Modecca digitataHarv. (synonyms: AdeJ~ia digitata Burtt-Davy, Adenia set, crisis Eng!.) is a passifloracea growing in austral Africa, the fruits and roots of which are hia~ly poisonous to man and animals [1 ] .Green and Andrews [2,3] observed that the toxicity of the large roots of this plant was due to a cyanogenetic ~ycoside and to a hi~Jtly toxfc protein they called modeccin 'by analogy with ficin'.The pathological changes observed by these investigators [3] in animals -poisoned with partially purified modeccin seem to be Wry similar to those brou~ht about by fiein [4--6] , and this prompted us to ascertain whether modeccin inhibits protein synthesis as do ricin and the related toxin abfin [7].With the experiments to be described in this paper modeccin was purified to homogeneity from the roots of Modecca digitatg.It w'as observed that tbds toxin is indeed a powerfid inhibitor of protein synthesis in cells and in a celli-free system. Experimental MaterialsRoots ofModecca digitata were obtained from the
Source: FEBS Letters
Authors: F. Stirpe, Anna Gasperi-Campani, L. Barbieri, E. Lorenzoni, L. Montanaro, Simonetta Sperti, E. Bonetti
Institution: University of Bologna
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2017470707