Sea Anemones, Actinoporins, and Cholesterol

Juan Palacios-Ortega, Diego Heras-Márquez, Rafael Amigot-Sánchez, Carmen García-Montoya, Carlos Torrijos, Diego Laxalde, José G. Gavilanes, Sara García-Linares*, Álvaro Martínez-del-Pozo*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview Article or Literature Reviewpeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)
    21 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Spanish or Spanish-speaking scientists represent a remarkably populated group within the scientific community studying pore-forming proteins. Some of these scientists, ourselves included, focus on the study of actinoporins, a fascinating group of metamorphic pore-forming proteins produced within the venom of several sea anemones. These toxic proteins can spontaneously transit from a water-soluble fold to an integral membrane ensemble because they specifically recognize sphingomyelin in the membrane. Once they bind to the bilayer, they subsequently oligomerize into a pore that triggers cell-death by osmotic shock. In addition to sphingomyelin, some actinoporins are especially sensible to some other membrane components such as cholesterol. Our group from Universidad Complutense of Madrid has focused greatly on the role played by sterols in this water–membrane transition, a question which still remains only partially solved and constitutes the main core of the article below.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number8771
    JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
    Volume23
    Issue number15
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022
    MoE publication typeA2 Review article in a scientific journal

    Keywords

    • actinoporins
    • cholesterol
    • equinatoxin
    • fragaceatoxin
    • pore-forming proteins
    • sphingomyelin
    • sticholysin

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