Exploration of natural killer yeast biodiversity as a possible way to select novel killer toxins suitable to be used in biomedical applications

摘要

The possible exploitation of selected killer toxins (mycocins) as novel antimycotic agents active against pathogenic yeasts represents one of the most attractive prospects of the killer phenomenon. At present, among the rationales preventing the use of purified antimycotic toxins for topic treatment of skin mycoses there is the fact that known mycocins exhibit a loss of activity and stability over pH and temperature ranges (5.0-5.5 and 25-30 deg C) rather different from those of the human skin environment. The exploration of natural microbial biodiversity may result in the isolation and selection of strains secreting toxins possessing wider killer activity towards pathogenic yeasts and expressed at pH and temperatures compatible with those requiredfor biomedical applications. In recent years, the use of appropriate screening strategies allowed the isolation of novel mycocins exhibiting killing properties over a wider range of pH and temperature. The importance of some specific features in screening procedures for the discovery of novel killer toxins is also discussed.