HC-toxin is a cyclic tetrapeptide of structure cyclo(D-Pro-L-Ala-D-Ala-L-Aeo), where Aeo stands for 2-amino-9,10-epoxi-8-oxodecanoic acid. It is a determinant of specificity and virulence in the interaction between the producing fungus, Cochliobolus carbonum, and its host, maize. HC-toxin qualifies as one of the few microbial secondary metabolites whose ecological function in nature is understo...

Staphylococcus chromogenes is closely related to Staphylococcus hyicus, which is recognised as the causative agent of exudative epidermitis (EE) in pigs. S. chromogenes is part of the normal skin flora of pigs, cattle and poultry and has so far been considered non-pathogenic to pigs. A strain of S. chromogenes producing exfoliative toxin type B, ExhB, was identified by the use of a multiplex PC...

K5-type yeast killer toxin secreted by P. anomala NCYC 434 cells has a broad killing spectrum. Competitive inhibiton of killer activity showed that glucans, mainly the beta-1,3 glucan, represent the primary toxin binding site within the cell wall of sensitive cells. Its hydrolytic activity on laminarin in an exo-like fashion revealed that the toxin exerts its killing effect by exo-beta-1,3-gluc...

During a period of 10 to 12 h after injection of type B 16S (L) toxin into the ligated duodenum of rats, 0.01 to 0.1% of the total toxicity administered was found in the lymph drawn by cannulation of the thoracic duct. The recovery was 50 to 100 times higher than that of the rat given type B 12S (M) or 7S (S) toxin. During the same period, 0.6 to 1.5% of the specific antigens were recovered, re...

Botulinum toxin is an unusually potent oral poison, which means that the toxin must have an efficient mechanism for escaping the lumen of the gut to reach the general circulation. Previous work involving iodination of toxin and analysis of its movement demonstrated a specific process of transepithelial transport. In the present study, botulinum toxin labeled with Alexa Fluor 488 was used to vis...

Toxin-specific enzyme immunoassays, cytotoxicity assays, and PCR were used to analyze 48 toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive Clostridium difficile isolates from various geographical sites around the world. All the isolates were negative by the TOX-A TEST and positive by the TOX A/B TEST. A deletion of approximately 1.7 kb was found at the 3' end of the toxA gene for all the isolates, similar to ...

Burkholderia gladioli is a bacterium with broad ecology spanning disease in humans, animals and plants, but also encompassing multiple beneficial interactions. It plant pathogen, toxin-producing food-poisoning agent, causes lung infections people cystic fibrosis (CF). Contrasting traits include antifungal production exploited by insects to protect their eggs, protective abilities antibiotic bio...

UNLABELLED Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin (ε-toxin) is responsible for a devastating multifocal central nervous system (CNS) white matter disease in ruminant animals. The mechanism by which ε-toxin causes white matter damage is poorly understood. In this study, we sought to determine the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which ε-toxin causes pathological changes to white matter. In pr...

Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase (AC) toxin belongs to the RTX family of toxins but is the only member with a known catalytic domain. The principal pathophysiologic function of AC toxin appears to be rapid production of intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) by insertion of its catalytic domain into target cells (referred to as intoxication). Relative to other RTX toxins, AC toxin is weakly hemo...