Pore-Forming Toxins Trigger the Purge

Enhanced SnapShot: Pore-Forming Toxins

Pore-forming toxins trigger shedding of receptors for interleukin 6 and lipopolysaccharide.

Cleavage of membrane-associated proteins with the release of biologically active macromolecules is an emerging theme in biology. However, little is known about the nature and regulation of the involved proteases or about the physiological inducers of the shedding process. We here report that rapid and massive shedding of the interleukin 6 receptor (IL-6R) and the lipopolysaccharide receptor (CD...

The Aerolysin-Like Toxin Family of Cytolytic, Pore-Forming Toxins

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) represent the largest known group of bacterial protein toxins to date. Membrane insertion and subsequent pore-formation occurs after initial binding to cell-surface receptor and oligomerization. Aerolysin, a toxin produced by the Gram-negative bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila and related species, belongs to the PFT group and shares a common mechanism of action involving...

The MACPF/CDC family of pore-forming toxins

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are commonly associated with bacterial pathogenesis. In eukaryotes, however, PFTs operate in the immune system or are deployed for attacking prey (e.g. venoms). This review focuses upon two families of globular protein PFTs: the cholesterol-dependent cytolysins (CDCs) and the membrane attack complex/perforin superfamily (MACPF). CDCs are produced by Gram-positive bact...

Pore-forming Toxins: Attack and Defence at the Cell Surface

The plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells fulfils many functions. Perhaps the most fundamental of these is its role as a barrier. The membrane is the structure that is primarily responsible for what enters the cell (such as ions, and nutrients) and what leaves (metabolic waste products, for example). It is the site at which many chemical signals are recognised (by receptors) and at which downstre...