Intracellular protein transport routes can be studied using toxins that exploit these to enter cells. BoNTA (botulinum neurotoxin type A) is a protease that binds to peripheral nerve terminals, becomes endocytosed and causes prolonged blockade of transmitter release by cleaving SNAP-25 (synaptosome-associated protein of 25 kDa). Retrograde transport of the toxin has been suggested, but not of t...

recombinant proteins are tending to be the most favorable vaccine-candidates against botulism. recombinant carboxy-terminal of botulinum neurotoxin serotype e (rbont/e-hcc) has been introduced as an efficient vaccine against botulism type e. in this report, we made an effort to investigate the effect of different ph on protein structure to assess if rbont/e-hcc could be used as a vaccine for or...

Synaptic vesicle fusion is driven by the formation of a four-helical bundle composed of soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor (NSF) attachment protein receptors (SNAREs). Exactly how the structural interactions that lead to the formation of this complex relate to neurotransmitter release is not well understood. To address this question, we used a strategy to "rescue" synaptic transmission a...

Genome sequences of five different Group II (nonproteolytic) Clostridium botulinum type F6 strains were compared at a 50-kb locus containing the neurotoxin gene cluster. A clonal origin for these strains is indicated by the fact that sequences were identical except for strain Eklund 202F, with 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms and a 15-bp deletion. The essential topB gene encoding topoisomeras...

background: recently, botulinum neurotoxin (bont)-derived recombinant proteins have been suggested as potential botulism vaccines. here, with concentrating on bont type e (bont/e), we studied two of these binding domain-based recombinant proteins: a multivalent chimer protein, which is composed of bont serotypes a, b and e binding subdomains, and a monovalent recombinant protein, which contains...

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are highly potent poisons produced by seven serotypes of Clostridium botulinum. The mechanism of neurotoxin action is a multistep process which leads to the cleavage of one of three different SNARE proteins essential for synaptic vesicle fusion and transmission of the nerve signals to muscles: synaptobrevin, syntaxin, or SNAP-25. In order to understand the precise ...

Clostridium strains from six phylogenetic groups, C. botulinum groups I to IV, C. baratii, and C. butyricum, display the capacity to produce botulinum neurotoxin. Here, we present the genome sequence of a C. butyricum isolate, the neurotoxigenic strain 5521, which encodes the type E botulinum neurotoxin.

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is one of the most toxic substances known to produce severe neuromuscular paralysis. The currently used vaccine is prepared mainly from biohazardous toxins. Thus, we studied an alternative method and demonstrated that DNA immunization provided sufficient protection against botulism in a murine model. A plasmid of pBoNT/A-Hc, which encodes the fragment C gene of type ...