Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2006 Mar;4(3):212-21.
doi: 10.1038/nrmicro1347.

Yeast viral killer toxins: lethality and self-protection

Manfred J Schmitt  1 , Frank Breinig
Affiliations
Review

Yeast viral killer toxins: lethality and self-protection

Manfred J Schmitt et al. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2006 Mar.

Abstract

Since the discovery of toxin-secreting killer yeasts more than 40 years ago, research into this phenomenon has provided insights into eukaryotic cell biology and virus-host-cell interactions. This review focuses on the most recent advances in our understanding of the basic biology of virus-carrying killer yeasts, in particular the toxin-encoding killer viruses, and the intracellular processing, maturation and toxicity of the viral protein toxins. The strategy of using eukaryotic viral toxins to effectively penetrate and eventually kill a eukaryotic target cell will be discussed, and the cellular mechanisms of self-defence and protective immunity will also be addressed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources