0000000000625360
AUTHOR
S. Sartingen
Closing in on the toxic domain through analysis of a variant Clostridium difficile cytotoxin B
Strain 1470 is the standard typing strain for serogroup F of Clostridium difficile containing both toxin genes, toxA-1470 and toxB-1470. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based approach to the sequencing of the total toxB-1470 gene identified an open reading frame (ORF) of 7104 nucleotides. In comparison with the previously sequenced toxB of C. difficile VP10463, the toxB-1470 gene has 16 additional nucleotides, 13 within the 5'-untranslated region and three within the coding region. The M(r) of ToxB-1470 is 269,262, with an isoelectric point (IP) of 4.16. The equivalent values for ToxB are M(r) 269,709 and IP 4.13. In comparison with ToxB, ToxB-1470 differs primarily in the N-terminal regi…
Comparative sequence analysis of the Clostridium difficile toxins A and B.
The six clones pTB112, pTB324, pTBs12, pCd122, pCd14 and pCd13 cover the tox locus of Clostridium difficile VPI 10463. This region of 19 kb of chromosomal DNA contains four open reading frames including the complete toxB and toxA genes. The two toxins show 63% amino acid (aa) homology, a relatedness that had been predicted by the cross-reactivity of some monoclonal antibodies (mAb) but that is in contrast to the toxin specificity of polyclonal antisera. A special feature of ToxA and ToxB is their repetitive C-termini. We define herein 19 individual CROPs (combined repetitive oligopeptides of 20-50 aa length) in the ToxB C-terminus, which are separable into five homologous groups. Comparison…
Cloning of Clostridium difficile toxin B gene and demonstration of high N-terminal homology between toxin A and B.
High titered Clostridium sordellii lethal toxin antiserum, cross-reactive with C. difficile cytotoxin B (ToxB), was used to isolate toxB fragments from a C. difficile expression library. Recombinant clones containing toxB fragments of the 5' and 3' end were isolate. A 2.5-kb HincII fragment of chromosomal DNA overlaps both groups of clones. A partial restriction map of the total toxB gene is presented. The gene is positioned upstream of utxA and toxA, toxB has a size of 6.9 kb, corresponding to a 250-kDa polypeptide. A partial sequence of the 5' end of toxB was determined. The sequence contains 398 bp upstream of toxB with a putative Shine-Dalgarno box (AGGAGA) and 609 bp of the toxB open r…