A Non-classical Assembly Pathway of Escherichia coli Pore-forming Toxin Cytolysin A

Soluble Oligomers of the Pore-forming Toxin Cytolysin A from Escherichia coli Are Off-pathway Products of Pore Assembly.

The α-pore-forming toxin Cytolysin A (ClyA) is responsible for the hemolytic activity of various Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica strains. Soluble ClyA monomers spontaneously assemble into annular dodecameric pore complexes upon contact with membranes or detergent. At ClyA monomer concentrations above ∼100 nm, the rate-limiting step in detergent- or membrane- induced pore assembly is th...

Designing a Pore-Forming Toxin Cytolysin A (ClyA) Specific to Target Cancer Cells

Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology DEDICATION TO MY CARING GRANDMOTHER iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I take this page to thank everyone who was involved directly or indirectly in this project. To my advisor, Dr. Min Chen, who has given me the chance to work under her experienced guidance and supervision. I would like to also thank the rest of my committee members, Dr. Ludmila Tyler and Dr. David Gr...

Protective role of autophagy against Vibrio cholerae cytolysin, a pore-forming toxin from V. cholerae.

Autophagy is the unique, regulated mechanism for the degradation of organelles. This intracellular process acts as a prosurvival pathway during cell starvation or stress and is also involved in cellular response against specific bacterial infections. Vibrio cholerae is a noninvasive intestinal pathogen that has been studied extensively as the causative agent of the human disease cholera. V. cho...

Lysenin: a sphingomyelin specific pore-forming toxin.

Sphingomyelin is a major sphingolipid in mammalian cells. Recent results indicate that sphingomyelin is a reservoir of lipid second messengers, ceramide and sphingosine-1-phosphate. Sphingomyelin is also a major component of sphingolipid and cholesterol-rich membrane domains (lipid rafts). Lysenin is a pore-forming toxin that specifically binds sphingomyelin. The binding of lysenin to sphingomy...

Cloning of Binding Domain of Clostridium botlllinum Toxin Type A in Escherichia coli