Clostridium septicum alpha-toxin is a beta-barrel pore-forming cytolysin that is functionally similar to aerolysin. Residues important in receptor binding, oligomerization, and pore formation have been identified; however, little is known about the activity of the toxin in an infection, although it is essential for disease. We have now shown that deletion of a small portion of the transmembrane...

Clostridia are anaerobic, spore-forming, gram-positive bacilli that are ubiquitious in nature. They can be isolated from soil and the GI tract of animals and humans.1 These organisms are responsible for a vast variety of human diseases, such as tetanus, botulism, sepsis, and severe soft tissue infections. Generally, infection occurs after inoculation of environmental spores into the host and su...

In an earlier paper, Reed, Orr and Smith (1941), demonstrated that the more actively pathogenic species of gas-gangrene anaerobes produce fibrinolysis when tested by the familiar procedure of Tillet and Garner (1933). Carlsen (1939) has previously shown that Clostridium histolyticum produces an active fibrinolysin. The eleven species of the genus Clostridium (some seventy-seven strains) tested ...

The glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor is a lipid and glycan modification added to the C terminus of certain proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum by the activity of a multiple subunit enzyme complex known as the GPI transamidase (GPIT). Several subunits of GPIT have increased expression levels in breast carcinoma. In an effort to identify GPI-anchored proteins and understand the possibl...