Shiga toxin type 2 (Stx2) produced by Escherichia coli O:157H7 can cause hemolytic-uremic syndrome in children, a disease for which there is neither a vaccine nor an effective treatment. This toxin consists of an enzymatically active A subunit and a pentameric B subunit responsible for the toxin binding to host cells, and also found to be immunogenic in rabbits. In this study we developed eukar...

Pertussis toxin plays a major role in the pathogenesis of whooping cough and is considered an important constituent of vaccines against this disease. It is composed of five different subunits associated in a molar ratio 1S1:1S2:1S3:2S4:1S5. The S1 subunit is responsible for the ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of the toxin. The B moiety, composed of S2 through S5, recognizes and binds to the tar...

Cholera toxin (CT) travels from the plasma membrane of intestinal cells to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) where a portion of the A-subunit, the A1 chain, crosses the membrane into the cytosol to cause disease. A related toxin, LTIIb, binds to intestinal cells but does not cause toxicity. Here, we show that the B-subunit of CT serves as a carrier for the A-subunit to the ER where disassembly occ...

Shigella toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is well known for its complications such as haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), but neurological symptoms have also been reported. While most cases of infection with STEC occur with concurrent HUS, we describe a patient with severe neurological symptoms in the absence of HUS. LEARNING POINTS • Shigella toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are b...

degP-deficient strains of Escherichia coli grown in M-9 medium supplemented with ZnCl2 expressed the recombinant S1 subunit of pertussis toxin (rS1) in a form electrophoretically identical to the authentic S1 subunit. Subcellular fractionation showed that the full-length form of rS1 was membrane associated, while proteolytic fragments of rS1 were present in the periplasm. rS1 was extracted from...