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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

A Simple Fluorescence-based Reporter Assay to Identify Cellular Components Required for Ricin Toxin A Chain (RTA) Trafficking in Yeast
Published on: December 15, 2017
From yeast killer toxins to antibiobodies and beyond
Walter Magliani1, Stefania Conti, Luiz R Travassos
1Sezione di Microbiologia, Dipartimento di Patologia e Medicina di Laboratorio, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italy.
Abstract:
Antibiobodies are paradigmatic of yeast killer toxin (KT)-like antibodies (KAbs) mimicking the antimicrobial activity of KTs in the frame of the yeast killer phenomenon. Polyclonal, monoclonal and recombinant anti-idiotypic antibiobodies (anti-idiotypic KAbs), internal images of a wide-spectrum KT produced by the yeast Pichia anomala (PaKT), have been produced by immunization with the idiotype of a PaKT-neutralizing monoclonal antibody. Anti-idiotypic KAbs showed microbicidal activity against eukaryotic and prokaryotic pathogenic agents through the interaction with specific KT receptors (KTRs), putatively constituted by beta-glucans. Natural KAbs have been found in animals and humans experimentally or naturally infected by KTR-bearing microorganisms. Recombinant KAb-derived synthetic killer peptides showed further antiviral and immunomodulatory activities. The perspectives of KAbs and killer peptides as potential sources of novel therapeutic agents, and of KTRs and idiotypes as vaccines against infectious diseases are discussed.
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