Alpha toxin (AT) is a pore-forming toxin produced by Clostridium septicum that belongs to the unique aerolysin-like family of pore-forming toxins. The location and structure of the transmembrane domains of these toxins have remained elusive. Using deletion mutagenesis, cysteine-scanning mutagenesis and multiple spectrofluorimetric methods a membrane-spanning amphipathic beta-hairpin of AT has b...

Ustilago maydis is a fungal pathogen of maize. Some strains of U. maydis encode secreted polypeptide toxins capable of killing other susceptible strains of U. maydis. We show here that one of these toxins, the KP6 killer toxin, is synthesized by transgenic tobacco plants containing the viral toxin cDNA under the control of a cauliflower mosaic virus promoter. The two components of the KP6 toxin...

Listeriolysin was isolated from target rabbit erythrocyte membranes after lysis of the cells with partially purified toxin derived from a culture supernatant of Listeria ivanovii. The membrane form of the toxin exhibited properties similar to those previously found for streptolysin O. Detergent-solubilized, delipidated listeriolysin was found to comprise a heterogeneous population of partially ...

Objective(s): Listeria monocytogens, Bacillus cereus and Campylobacter jejuni are three toxin producing bacteria over the world, especially in Iran, and it is essential to find a certain, rapid procedure to identify these microorganisms. In this research, these bacteria were simultaneously detected by multiplex PCR technique in foods. Materials and Methods: The primary approval of bacterial str...

Background: Cholera is a potentially epidemic and life-threatening secretory diarrhoea characterized by voluminous watery stools, often accompanied by vomiting, and resulting in hypovolemic shock and acidosis. It is caused by certain strains of the species Vibrio cholerae which can also cause mild or in apparent infections. The aim of this study is the evaluation of Capsaicin, as a potential in...

Many bacterial pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, use a variety of pore-forming toxins as important virulence factors. Staphylococcal alpha-toxin, a prototype beta-barrel pore-forming toxin, triggers the release of proinflammatory mediators and induces primarily necrotic death in susceptible cells. However, whether host factors released in response to staphylococcal infections may incr...

BACKGROUND To achieve an economical cellulosic ethanol production, a host that can do both cellulosic saccharification and ethanol fermentation is desirable. However, to engineer a non-cellulolytic yeast to be such a host requires synthetic biology techniques to transform multiple enzyme genes into its genome. RESULTS A technique, named Promoter-based Gene Assembly and Simultaneous Overexpres...

beta-Bungarotoxins have been shown to be presynaptic blockers of neuromuscular transmission. This paper reports experiments using the most positively charged beta-bungarotoxin that elutes from a CM-Sephadex C-25 column. The toxin is shown to be a single polypeptide with a molecular weight of approximately 11,000 and has phospholipase A2 activity. The application of the enzymatically active toxi...