Toxin data quality: a critical examination of bacterial exotoxins and animal toxins.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Existing toxins datasets include a mixture of proteins and toxin peptides. In this study we present two curated datasets of toxic proteins free of associated proteins: bacterial exotoxins and animal toxins. Our stringent selection criteria resulted in two data sets with only toxins that directly target or disrupt vital molecular mechanisms of their target organism. To gain insight in their properties and differences, we compared both sets of toxins to controls, and used simple biophysical features such as protein length, and amino acid composition distinguishing between evolutionary kingdoms (phyla). This approach should reveal if there is a need to consider differences present in toxin sets depending on their origin.

Results

Our analysis revealed biophysical diffe

SUBMITTER: Kruger T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12492933 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature