Abstract
ε-Toxin from Clostridium perfringens is a lethal toxin. Recent studies suggest that the toxin acts via an unusually potent pore-forming mechanism. Here we report the crystal structure of ε-toxin, which reveals structural similarity to aerolysin from Aeromonas hydrophila. Pore-forming toxins can change conformation between soluble and transmembrane states. By comparing the two toxins, we have identified regions important for this transformation.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council along with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Data collection was carried out at BM14 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
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Cole, A., Gibert, M., Popoff, M. et al. Clostridium perfringens ε-toxin shows structural similarity to the pore-forming toxin aerolysin. Nat Struct Mol Biol 11, 797–798 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb804
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb804
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