A bacterial syringe delivers a deadly enzyme No less complex and in fact very effective is the intoxication process of toxin complexes (Tc), virulence factors of many bacteria, including insect and human pathogens. As simple as it may seem, this process is in fact a sophisticated and multi-staged procedure. The toxin unfolds its lethal effect by preventing the release of neurotransmitters at the point where nerve cells attach to muscles, thereby paralyzing them. Only one-thousandth of a milligram of the bacterial botulinum toxin is necessary to kill a living organism. Their findings not only reveal how the deadly cargo of the Tc toxin drives the collapse of the cell’s cytoskeleton but provide an explanation of the toxin’s high efficiency. In order to unravel the details behind the infection mechanism of Tc toxins in particular, experts in cryo-EM and protein-NMR from Stefan Raunser’s group at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (MPI) in Dortmund and Hartmut Oschkinat’s group from the Leibniz Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie in Berlin have worked side by side. Bacterial toxins hit host organisms where it hurts most, promoting infection and diseases in animals and humans. Aug 3 2022Ī harmful and often deadly substance made by bacteria, a bacterial toxin manipulates host cell functions and disrupts vital cell processes in a living organism.
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