Urease from Canavalia ensiformis seeds was the first enzyme ever to be crystallized, in 1926. These proteins, found in plants, bacteria and fungi, present different biological properties including catalytic hydrolysis of urea, and also enzyme-independent activities, such as induction of exocytosis, pro-inflammatory effects, neurotoxicity, antifungal and insecticidal properties. Urease is toxic to insects and fungi per se but part of this toxicity relies on an internal peptide (~11 kDa), which is released upon digestion of the protein by insect enzymes. A recombinant form of this peptide, called jaburetox (JBTX), was constructed using jbureII gene as a template. The peptide exhibits liposome disruption properties, and insecticidal and fungicidal activities. Here we review the known biological properties activities of JBTX, and comment on new ones not yet fully characterized. JBTX was able to cause mortality of Aedes aegypti larvae in a feeding assay whereas in a dose as low as of 0.1 μg it provoked death of Triatoma infestans bugs. JBTX (10(-5)-10(-6) M) inhibits the growth of E. coli, P. aeruginosa and B. cereus after 24 h incubation. Multilamellar liposomes interacting with JBTX undergo reorganization of the membrane's lipids as detected by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies. Encapsulating JBTX into lipid nanoparticles led to an increase of the peptide's antifungal activity. Transgenic tobacco and sugarcane plants expressing the insecticidal peptide JBTX, showed increased resistance to attack of the insect pests Spodoptera frugiperda, Diatraea saccharalis and Telchin licus licus. Many questions remain unanswered; however, so far, JBTX has shown to be a versatile peptide that can be used against various insect and fungus species, and in new bacterial control strategies.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
2%
Nursing and Health Professions
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2%
Other
5
10%
Unknown
21
41%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 June 2017.
All research outputs
#19,159,670
of 27,788,586 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
#312
of 516 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#219,295
of 338,548 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
#6
of 8 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 27,788,586 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 516 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.6. This one is in the 28th percentile – i.e., 28% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 8 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 2 of them.
