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J Biol Chem, Vol. 275, Issue 2, 823-827, January 14, 2000

The Cytotoxic Plant Protein, -Purothionin, Forms Ion Channels in Lipid Membranes^*

Peter Hughes^§¶, Elizabeth Dennis, Malcolm Whitecross^§, Danny Llewellyn, and Peter Gage^**

From the  CSIRO Plant Industry, Clunies Ross St., Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia, the ^§ Division of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia, and the ^** Membrane Biology Program, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University P. O. Box 334, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia

Thionins are small cysteine-containing, amphipathic plant proteins found in seeds and vegetative tissues of a number of plant genera. Many of them have been shown to be toxic to microorganisms such as fungi, yeast, and bacteria and also to mammalian cells. It has been suggested that thionins are present in seeds to protect them, and the germinating seedling, from attack by phytopathogenic microorganisms, but the mechanism by which they kill cells remains unclear. Using electrophysiological measurements, we have shown that -purothionin from wheat flour can form cation-selective ion channels in artificial lipid bilayer membranes and in the plasmalemma of rat hippocampal neurons. We suggest that the generalized toxicity of thionins is due to their ability to generate ion channels in cell membranes, resulting in the dissipation of ion concentration gradients essential for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis.

The atomic coordinates and structure factors (code 1BHP) have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank, Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (http://www.rcsb.org/).

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