The synthesis of ricinus communis lectins

Abstract

Ricinus communis agglutinin II (ricin) and R. communis agglutinin I are cytotoxic seed lectins whose study has contributed to our understanding of precursor synthesis, membrane translocation, ribosome inactivation, intracellular trafficking, vacuolar targeting, protein assembly and quality control in plant cells. This chapter will focus largely on the targeting, quality control and protein assembly of these two closely related sugar binding, ribotoxic proteins. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.