0000000000042863
AUTHOR
Michael Palmer
showing 38 related works from this author
Altered pore-forming properties of proteolytically nicked staphylococcal alpha-toxin
1993
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin is a single-chain polypeptide with a molecular weight of 34,000 that hexamerizes in lipid bilayers to form pores of 1-1.5 nm effective diameter in membranes. We demonstrate that limited proteolysis of purified alpha-toxin with proteinase K generates a hemolytically active product that yields one major protein band of 17-18 kDa in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The 17-18-kDa protein band harbors two major fragments of similar size representing the N- and C-terminal halves, which remain associated with each other in non-denaturing buffers but dissociate in 6 M urea. Dissociation in urea leads to loss of hemolytic activity. In contrast, unnicked alpha-toxin …
Recovery of human fibroblasts from attack by the pore-forming alpha-toxin of Staphylococcus aureus.
1994
When applied at low concentrations (10 micrograms/ml), staphylococcal alpha-toxin generates a small channel in keratinocyte and lymphocyte membranes that permits selective transmembrane flux of monovalent ions. Here we show that a moderate concentration (1-50 micrograms/ml) of alpha-toxin similarly produces a small pore in membranes of human fibroblasts. This process leads to rapid leakage of K+ and to a drop in cellular ATP to 10-20% of normal levels in 2 h. In the presence of medium supplemented with serum and at pH 7.4, the cells are able to recover from toxin attack, so that normal levels of K+ and ATP are reached after 6-8 h at 37 degrees C. The repair process is dependent on the prese…
Molecular architecture of a toxin pore: a 15-residue sequence lines the transmembrane channel of staphylococcal alpha-toxin.
1996
Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin is a hydrophilic polypeptide of 293 amino acids that produces heptameric transmembrane pores. During assembly, the formation of a pre-pore precedes membrane permeabilization; the latter is linked to a conformational change in the oligomer. Here, 41 single-cysteine replacement toxin mutants were thiol-specifically labelled with the polarity-sensitive fluorescent probe acrylodan. After oligomerization on membranes, only the mutants with acrylodan attached to residues in the sequence 118-140 exhibited a marked blue shift in the fluorescence emission maximum, indicative of movement of the fluorophore to a hydrophobic environment. Within this region, two functio…
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin, streptolysin-O, and Escherichia coli hemolysin: prototypes of pore-forming bacterial cytolysins.
1996
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin, streptolysin-O, and Escherichia coli hemolysin are well-studied prototypes of pore-forming bacterial cytotoxins. Each is produced as a water-soluble single-chain polypeptide that inserts into target membranes to form aqueous transmembrane pores. This review will compare properties of the three toxin prototypes, highlighting the similarities and also the differences in their structure, mode of binding, mechanism of pore formation, and the responses they elicit in target cells. Pore-forming toxins represent the most potent and versatile weapons with which invading microbes damage the host macroorganism.
Expression of Active Streptolysin O in Escherichia coli as a Maltose-Binding-Protein-Streptolysin-O Fusion Protein. The N-Terminal 70 Amino Acids are…
1996
Streptolysin 0 (SLO) is the prototype of a family of cytolysins that consists of proteins which bind to cholesterol and form very large transmembrane pores. Structure/function studies on the pore-forming cytolysin SLO have been complicated by the proteolytic inactivation of a substantial portion of recombinant SLO (rSLO) expressed in Escherichia coli. To overcome this problem, translational fusions between the E. coli maltose-binding protein (MBP) gene and SLO were constructed, using the vectors pMAL-p2 and pMAL-c2. MBP-SLO fusion proteins were degraded if secreted into the E. coli periplasm, but intact, soluble MBP-SLO fusion proteins were produced at high levels in the cytoplasm. Active S…
Mode of primary binding to target membranes and pore formation induced by Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (hemolysin).
1997
Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) is produced by many non-choleratoxigenic strains of V. cholerae, and possibly represents a relevant pathogenicity determinant of these bacteria. The protein is secreted as a pro-toxin that is proteolytically cleaved to yield the active toxin with a molecular mass of approximately 63 kDa. We here describe a simple procedure for preparative isolation of mature VCC from bacterial culture supernatants, and present information on its mode of binding and pore formation in biological membranes. At low concentrations, toxin monomers interact with a high-affinity binding site on highly susceptible rabbit erythrocytes. This as yet unidentified binding site is absent on…
Assembly mechanism of the oligomeric streptolysin O pore: the early membrane lesion is lined by a free edge of the lipid membrane and is extended gra…
1998
Streptolysin O (SLO) is a bacterial exotoxin that binds to cell membranes containing cholesterol and then oligomerizes to form large pores. Along with rings, arc-shaped oligomers form on membranes. It has been suggested that each arc represents an incompletely assembled oligomer and constitutes a functional pore, faced on the opposite side by a free edge of the lipid membrane. We sought functional evidence in support of this idea by using an oligomerization-deficient, non-lytic mutant of SLO. This protein, which was created by chemical modification of a single mutant cysteine (T250C) with N-(iodoacetaminoethyl)-1-naphthylamine-5-sulfonic acid, formed hybrid oligomers with active SLO on memb…
Cholesterol Specificity of Some Heptameric β-Barrel Pore-Forming Bacterial Toxins: Structural and Functional Aspects
2010
Apart from the thiol-specific/cholesterol-dependent cytolysin family of toxins (see Chapter 20) there are a number of other unrelated bacterial toxins that also have an affinity for plasma membrane cholesterol. Emphasis is given here on the Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) and the cytolysins from related Vibrio species. The inhibition of the cytolytic activity of these toxins by prior incubation with extracellular cholesterol or low density lipoprotein emerges as a unifying feature, as does plasma membrane cholesterol depletion. Incubation of VCC with cholesterol produces a heptameric oligomer, which is not equivalent to the pre-pore since it is unable to penetrate the plasma membrane. In st…
Membrane Insertion of the Heptameric Staphylococcal α-Toxin Pore
2001
Abstract Staphylococcal α-toxin forms heptameric pores on eukaryotic cells. After binding to the cell membrane in its monomeric form, the toxin first assembles into a heptameric pre-pore. Subsequently, the pre-pore transforms into the final pore by membrane insertion of an amphipathic β-barrel, which comprises the “central loop” domains of all heptamer subunits. The process of membrane insertion was analyzed here using a set of functionally altered toxin mutants. The results show that insertion may be initiated within an individual protomer when its NH2 terminus activates its central loop. The activated state is then shared with the central loops of the residual heptamer subunits, which res…
Potassium-inhibited processing of IL-1 beta in human monocytes.
1995
Agents that deplete cells of K+ without grossly disrupting the plasma membrane were found to stimulate the cleavage of pro-interleukin (IL)-1 beta to mature IL-1 beta. Agents examined in this study included staphylococcal alpha-toxin and gramicidin, both of which selectively permeabilize plasma membranes for monovalent ions, the ionophores nigericin and valinomycin, and the Na+/K+ ATPase inhibitor ouabain. K+ depletion by brief hypotonic shock also triggered processing of pro-IL-1 beta. The central role of K+ depletion for inducing IL-1 beta maturation was demonstrated in cells permeabilized with alpha-toxin: processing of pro-IL-1 beta was totally blocked when cells were suspended in mediu…
Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin. Production of functionally intact, site-specifically modifiable protein by introduction of cysteine at positions 6…
1993
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin, the prototype of an oligomerizing, pore-forming cytotoxin, is sensitive to biochemical modifications and cannot be labeled with biotin or fluorescein under preservation of its biological activity. In this study, we have used site-directed mutagenesis to introduce cysteine residues at positions 69, 130, and 186. Each mutant was fully and rapidly reactive with several sulfhydryl-specific reagents, indicating superficial location. Coupling of SH-groups with fluorescein-maleimide or biotin-maleimide was tolerated without loss of hemolytic activity at position 130, and the formed hexamers were visible on target cells by fluorescence microscopy and could be detected on…
Cholesterol-Streptolysin O Interaction: An EM Study of Wild-Type and Mutant Streptolysin O
1998
We present transmission electron microscopical data from negatively stained specimens of cholesterol following interaction with the thiol-activated bacterial toxin streptolysin O (SLO) (wild-type and a number of cysteine substitution mutants), with and without chemical modification of the cysteine residues. Two experimental systems were used, one with an aqueous suspension of cholesterol microcrystals and the other with immobilized thin planar cholesterol crystals attached to a carbon film. In both systems the wild-type SLO and two cytolytically active mutants, Cys 530 --Ala (C530A) and Ser 101 --Cys (S101C), readily generated the characteristic SLO arc- and ring-like oligomers on the surfa…
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin: formation of the heptameric pore is partially cooperative and proceeds through multiple intermediate stages.
1997
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin is a 293 residue polypeptide that assembles into pore-forming heptamers, residues 118-140, thereby inserting to form an amphipathic beta-barrel in the lipid bilayer. Fluorometric analyses were here conducted using cysteine-substitution mutants site-specifically-labeled at positions 35 or 130 with the environmentally-sensitive fluorophore acrylodan. In conjunction with functional assays, three conformational states of the heptamer were defined, which may represent transitional configurations of the toxin molecule along its way to membrane insertion and pore formation. The first was the freshly assembled, SDS-sensitive heptamer alpha7*a, where a minor alteration in …
Interaction of the Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) with cholesterol, some cholesterol esters, and cholesterol derivatives: a TEM study.
2002
The Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) 63-kDa monomer has been shown to interact in aqueous suspension with cholesterol microcystals to produce a ring/pore-like heptameric oligomer approximately 8 nm in outer diameter. Transmission electron microscopy data were produced from cholesterol samples adsorbed to carbon support films, spread across the holes of holey carbon films, and negatively stained with ammonium molybdate. The VCC oligomers initially attach to the edge of the stacked cholesterol bilayers and with increasing time cover the two planar surfaces. VCC oligomers are also released into solution, with some tendency to cluster, possibly via the hydrophobic membrane-spanning domain. At th…
Membrane-penetrating Domain of Streptolysin O Identified by Cysteine Scanning Mutagenesis
1996
Streptolysin O (SLO), a polypeptide of 571 amino acids, belongs to a family of highly homologous toxins that bind to cell membranes containing cholesterol and then polymerize to form large transmembrane pores. A conserved region close to the C terminus contains the single cysteine residue of SLO and has been implicated in membrane binding, which has been the only clear assignment of function to a part of the sequence. We have used a cysteine-less active mutant of SLO to introduce single cysteine residues at 19 positions distributed throughout the sequence. The cysteines were derivatized with the polarity-sensitive fluorophore acrylodan, and the fluorescence emission of the label was examine…
Dynamics of Ca2+ and guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate action on insulin secretion from alpha-toxin-permeabilized HIT-T15 cells.
1994
The time course of Ca2+ and GTP-analogue effects on insulin secretion was investigated in HIT-T15 cells permeabilized with Staphylococcus alpha-toxin. These cells responded to Ca2+ in the range 0.1-10 microM and could be used in a dynamic perifusion system because of the minimal run-down of the secretory response. High Ca2+ (10 microM) elicited a monophasic ATP-dependent stimulation of insulin secretion that reached a peak within 5 min (approximately 20-fold increase) and rapidly decreased during the subsequent 15 min to a plateau remaining above basal rates (0.1 microM Ca2+). The decrease in Ca(2+)-induced insulin secretion with time could not be attributed to decreased capacity to respond…
Staphylococcal α-toxin: the role of the N-terminus in formation of the heptameric pore — a fluorescence study1This work contains parts of the M.D. th…
1997
Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin forms heptameric pores on eukaryotic cell membranes. Assembly of the heptamer precedes formation of the transmembrane pore. The latter event depends on a conformational change that drives a centrally located stretch of 15 amino acid residues into the lipid bilayer. A second region of the molecule that has been implicated in the pre-pore to pore transition is the far N-terminus. Here, we used fluorescently labeled single cysteine replacement mutants to analyze the functional role of the far N-terminus of alpha-toxin. Pyrene attached to mutants S3C, I5C and 17C forms excimers within the toxin pore complex. This indicates that the distance of adjacent N-termin…
Pathogenesis of Sepsis Syndrome: Possible Relevance of Pore-Forming Bacterial Toxins
1996
This review focuses on a group of bacterial products whose very existence is known to only a minority of clinicians, and whose potential significance as inducers of the sepsis syndrome has eluded the attention of most microbiologists. This is unfortunate because pore-forming bacterial toxins possess all the properties for contributing to the pathogenesis of local and systemic inflammatory reactions. Because pore formers generally are highly immunogenic proteins, the prospects for immune intervention are described that may eventually be of benefit to patients. The subject is therefore of interest not only from a theoretical but also from a practical point of view.
Cysteine-Specific Radioiodination of Proteins with Fluorescein Maleimide
1997
A protocol is described for coupling of carrier-free iodine to protein sulfhydryl groups via fluorescein maleimide. 125I is first coupled to fluorescein maleimide in the presence of chloramine T. Iodination is stopped with sodium thiosulfate, and the iodine-substituted fluorescein maleimide is reacted with free cysteines of the protein. Excess label is then removed by gel-permeation chromatography. The procedure avoids exposition of the protein to oxidative conditions and does not require purification of the labeled carrier reagent. Suitability of the method for a given protein can be evaluated spectrophotometrically without employing radioactivity. It can be applied under denaturing condit…
A guide to the use of pore-forming toxins for controlled permeabilization of cell membranes
1993
Depending on the size of the pores one wishes to produce in plasma membranes, the choice will probably fall on one of the three toxins discussed above. S. aureus alpha-toxin should be tried first when pores of 1-1.5 nm diameter are required. This is generally the case when Ca2+ and nucleotide dependence of a given process is being studied. If alpha-toxin does not work, this is probably due to the fact that the toxin either does not produce pores, or that the pores are too small. In this case, high concentrations of alpha-toxin should be tried. If this still does not work, we recommend the use of HlyA. When very large pores are to be created, e.g. for introduction of antibodies into the cell…
Kinetics of streptolysin O self-assembly.
1995
Streptolysin O is a member of a family of membrane-damaging toxins that bind to cell membranes containing cholesterol and then polymerize to form large pores. We have examined the kinetics of toxin action using 125I-labelled streptolysin O. Binding of toxin monomers to membranes displays first-order kinetics and is reversible; the rate of desorption from red cells shows a marked dependence on temperature. To study oligomerization, toxin was bound to erythrocytes at 0 degrees C. Oligomer formation was then triggered by a sudden temperature shift and stopped by solubilization of membranes with deoxycholate. While at moderately high streptolysin O concentrations oligomerization behaves as a re…
Pore formation by Vibrio cholerae cytolysin follows the same archetypical mode as beta-barrel toxins from gram-positive organisms.
2009
Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) forms SDS-stable heptameric beta-barrel transmembrane pores in mammalian cell membranes. In contrast to structurally related pore formers of gram-positive organisms, no oligomeric prepore stage of assembly has been detected to date. In the present study, disulfide bonds were engineered to tie the pore-forming amino acid sequence to adjacent domains. In their nonreduced form, mutants were able to bind to rabbit erythrocytes and to native erythrocyte membranes suspended in PBS solution and form SDS-labile oligomers. These remained nonfunctional and represented the long-sought VCC prepores. Disulfide bond reduction in these oligomers released the pore-forming se…
Differential interaction of the two cholesterol-dependent, membrane-damaging toxins, streptolysin O and Vibrio cholerae cytolysin, with enantiomeric …
2003
AbstractMembrane cholesterol is essential to the activity of at least two structurally unrelated families of bacterial pore-forming toxins, represented by streptolysin O (SLO) and Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC), respectively. Here, we report that SLO and VCC differ sharply in their interaction with liposome membranes containing enantiomeric cholesterol (ent-cholesterol). VCC had very low activity with ent-cholesterol, which is in line with a stereospecific mode of interaction of this toxin with cholesterol. In contrast, SLO was only slightly less active with ent-cholesterol than with cholesterol, suggesting a rather limited degree of structural specificity in the toxin–cholesterol interact…
Accumulation of Amphotericin B in Human Macrophages Enhances Activity against Aspergillus fumigatus Conidia: Quantification of Conidial Kill at the S…
1998
ABSTRACT A cytofluorometric assay that allowed assessment of damage to phagocytosed Aspergillus fumigatus conidia at the single-cell level was developed. After ingestion by monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), conidia were reisolated by treatment of the cells with streptolysin O, a pore-forming toxin with lytic properties on mammalian cells but not on fungi. The counts obtained by staining of damaged conidia with propidium iodide and quantification by cytofluorometry correlated with colony counts. By the use of this method, we demonstrate that MDMs differentiated in vitro by low-dose granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and gamma interferon have only a limited capacity to damage…
Oligomerization of Vibrio cholerae cytolysin yields a pentameric pore and has a dual specificity for cholesterol and sphingolipids in the target memb…
1999
Vibrio cholerae cytolysin permeabilizes animal cell membranes. Upon binding to the target lipid bilayer, the protein assembles into homo-oligomeric pores of an as yet unknown stoichiometry. Pore formation has been observed with model liposomes consisting of phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol, but the latter were much less susceptible to the cytolysin than were erythrocytes or intestinal epithelial cells. We here show that liposome permeabilization is strongly promoted if cholesterol is combined with sphingolipids, whereby the most pronounced effects are observed with monohexosylceramides and free ceramide. These two lipid species are prevalent in mammalian intestinal brush border membranes…
Correct oligomerization is a prerequisite for insertion of the central molecular domain of staphylococcal α-toxin into the lipid bilayer
1995
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin is a primarily hydrophilic molecule that binds as a monomer to target membranes and then aggregates to form amphiphilic oligomers that represent water-filled transmembrane channels. Current evidence indicates that a region located in the center of the molecule inserts deeply into the bilayer. In the present study, we sought to determine whether membrane insertion was triggered by the oligomerization process, and whether insertion correlated with pore formation. Double mutants of alpha-toxin were prepared in which His-35 was replaced by Arg, and cysteine residues were introduced at positions 69, 130 and 186. Substitution of His-35 with Arg rendered the toxin molecu…
Bacterial Cytolysin Perturbs Round Window Membrane Permeability Barrier In Vivo: Possible Cause of Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Acute Otitis Media
1998
ABSTRACT The passage of radioiodinated streptolysin-O (SLO) and albumin through the round window membrane (RWM) was studied in vivo. When applied to the middle ear, SLO became quantitatively entrapped in this compartment and no passage to the cochlea occurred. However, flux of radioiodinated albumin through the toxin-damaged RWM was observed. We propose that the passage of noxious macromolecules, such as proteases, from a purulent middle-ear effusion may be facilitated by pore-forming toxins, resulting in cochlear damage and sensorineural hearing loss.
Pore-forming toxins trigger shedding of receptors for interleukin 6 and lipopolysaccharide.
1996
Cleavage of membrane-associated proteins with the release of biologically active macromolecules is an emerging theme in biology. However, little is known about the nature and regulation of the involved proteases or about the physiological inducers of the shedding process. We here report that rapid and massive shedding of the interleukin 6 receptor (IL-6R) and the lipopolysaccharide receptor (CD14) occurs from primary and transfected cells attacked by two prototypes of pore-forming bacterial toxins, streptolysin O and Escherichia coli hemolysin. Shedding is not induced by an streptolysin O toxin mutant which retains cell binding capacity but lacks pore-forming activity. The toxin-dependent c…
Vibrio cholerae cytolysin: assembly and membrane insertion of the oligomeric pore are tightly linked and are not detectably restricted by membrane fl…
2000
AbstractHemolytic strains of Vibrio cholerae secrete a cytolysin that, upon binding as a monomer, forms pentameric pores in animal cell membranes. Pore formation is inhibited at low temperature and in the absence of cholesterol. We here posed the following questions: firstly, can oligomerization be observed in the absence of pore formation? Secondly, is membrane fluidity responsible for the effect of temperature or of cholesterol upon pore formation? The first issue was approached by chemical cross-linking, by electrophoretic heteromer analysis, and by electron microscopy. None of these methods yielded any evidence of a non-lytic pre-pore oligomer. The second question was addressed by the u…
Oligomerization and hemolytic properties of the C-terminal domain of pyolysin, a cholesterol-dependent cytolysin
2013
Pyolysin (PLO) belongs to the homologous family of the cholesterol- dependent cytolysins (CDCs), which bind to cell membranes containing cholesterol to form oligomeric pores of large size. The CDC monomer structure consists of 4 domains. Among these, the C-terminal domain 4 has been implicated in membrane binding of the monomer, while the subsequent processes of oligomerization and membrane insertion have primarily been assigned to other domains of the molecule. Recombinantly expressed or proteolytic fragments that span domain 4 of the CDCs streptolysin O and perfringolysin O bind to membranes but fail to oligomerize, and they inhibit the activity of the respective wild-type toxins. We repo…
Coupling of Cholesterol and Cone-shaped Lipids in Bilayers Augments Membrane Permeabilization by the Cholesterol-specific Toxins Streptolysin O and V…
2001
Abstract Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) forms oligomeric pores in lipid bilayers containing cholesterol. Membrane permeabilization is inefficient if the sterol is embedded within bilayers prepared from phosphatidylcholine only but is greatly enhanced if the target membrane also contains ceramide. Although the enhancement of VCC action is stereospecific with respect to cholesterol, we show here that no such specificity applies to the two stereocenters in ceramide; all four stereoisomers of ceramide enhanced VCC activity in cholesterol-containing bilayers. A wide variety of ceramide analogs were as effective asd-erythro-ceramide, as was diacylglycerol, suggesting that the effect of ceramide …
Identification of a putative membrane-inserted segment in the alpha-toxin of Staphylococcus aureus.
1994
To gain a fuller understanding of the regions of the Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin important in pore formation, we have used Forster dipole-dipole energy transfer to demonstrate that a central glycine-rich region of alpha-toxin (the so-called "hinge" region) inserts deeply into the bilayer on association of toxin with liposomes. Mutant alpha-toxins with unique cysteine (C) residues at positions 69 and 130 [Palmer, M., et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 11959) were reacted with the C-specific fluorophore acrylodan, which acted as an energy donor. The chosen acceptor was N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-13- diazol-4-yl)-1,2-bis(hexadecanoyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamin e (NBD-PE). Measurement of t…
Streptolysin O: the C-terminal, tryptophan-rich domain carries functional sites for both membrane binding and self-interaction but not for stable oli…
2001
AbstractStreptolysin O belongs to the class of thiol-activated toxins, which are single chain, four-domain proteins that bind to membranes containing cholesterol and then assemble to form large oligomeric pores. Membrane binding involves a conserved tryptophan-rich sequence motif located within the C-terminally located domain 4. In contrast, sites involved in oligomerization and pore formation have been assigned to domains 1 and 3, respectively. We here examined the functional properties of domain 4, which was recombinantly expressed with an N-terminal histidine tag for purification and an additional cysteine residue for covalent labeling. The fluorescently labeled fragment readily bound to…
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin: repair of a calcium-impermeable pore in the target cell membrane
2000
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin forms heptameric pores that render membranes permeable for monovalent cations. The pore is formed by an amphipathic beta-barrel encompassing amino acid residues 118-140 of each subunit of the oligomer. Human fibroblasts are susceptible to alpha-toxin but are able to repair the membrane lesions. Thereby, toxin oligomers remain embedded in the plasma membrane and exposed to the extracellular medium. In this study, we sought to detect structural changes occurring in the pore-forming sequence during lesion repair. Single cysteine substitution mutants were labelled with the environmentally sensitive fluorochrome acrylodan and, after mixing with wild-type toxin, incorpo…
Interaction ofEscherichia colihemolysin with biological membranes
2001
Escherichia coli hemolysin (HlyA) is a membrane-permeabilizing protein belonging to the family of RTX-toxins. Lytic activity depends on binding of Ca2(+) to the C-terminus of the molecule. The N-terminus of HlyA harbors hydrophobic sequences that are believed to constitute the membrane-inserting domain. In this study, 13 HlyA cysteine-replacement mutants were constructed and labeled with the polarity-sensitive fluorescent probe 6-bromoacetyl-2-dimethylaminonaphthalene (badan). The fluorescence emission of the label was examined in soluble and membrane-bound toxin. Binding effected a major blue shift in the emission of six residues within the N-terminal hydrophobic domain, indicating inserti…
Transmembrane beta-barrel of staphylococcal alpha-toxin forms in sensitive but not in resistant cells.
1997
Staphylococcal α-toxin is a 293-residue, single-chain polypeptide that spontaneously assembles into a heptameric pore in target cell membranes. To identify the pore-forming domain, substitution mutants have been produced in which single cysteine residues were introduced throughout the toxin molecule. By attaching the environmentally sensitive dye acrylodan to the sulfhydryl groups, the environment of individual amino acid side chains could be probed. In liposomes, a single 23-amino acid sequence (residues 118–140) was found to move from a polar to a nonpolar environment, indicating that this sequence forms the walls of the pore. However, periodicity in side chain environmental polarity coul…
SNAP-25a and -25b isoforms are both expressed in insulin-secreting cells and can function in insulin secretion
1999
The tSNARE (the target-membrane soluble NSF-attachment protein receptor, where NSF is N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein) synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25) is expressed in pancreatic B-cells and its cleavage by botulinum neurotoxin E (BoNT/E) abolishes stimulated secretion of insulin. In the nervous system, two SNAP-25 isoforms (a and b) have been described that are produced by alternative splicing. Here it is shown, using reverse transcriptase PCR, that messages for both SNAP-25 isoforms are expressed in primary pancreatic B and non-B cells as well as in insulin-secreting cell lines. After transfection, both isoforms can be detected at the plasma membrane as well a…
Novel path to apoptosis: small transmembrane pores created by staphylococcal alpha-toxin in T lymphocytes evoke internucleosomal DNA degradation.
1994
Peripheral-blood human T lymphocytes were treated with Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin. Membrane permeabilization was assessed by measuring efflux of K+ and Rb+ and influx of Na+, Ca2+, and propidium iodide. Cellular ATP and [3H]thymidine incorporation following lectin stimulation were measured as parameters for cell viability. Internucleosomal cleavage characteristic of programmed cell death was assessed by agarose gel electrophoresis and by quantifying low-molecular-weight, [3H]thymidine-labeled DNA fragments. Nanomolar concentrations of alpha-toxin evoked protracted, irreversible ATP depletion in both activated and resting T lymphocytes. Toxin-damaged cells also lost their ability to i…