Evidence for a proton-protein symport mechanism in the anthrax toxin channel.

ABSTRACT: The toxin produced by Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, is composed of three proteins: a translocase heptameric channel, (PA(63))(7), formed from protective antigen (PA), which allows the other two proteins, lethal and edema factors (LF and EF), to translocate across a host cell's endosomal membrane, disrupting cellular homeostasis. It has been shown that (PA(63))(7) incorporated into planar phospholipid bilayer membranes forms a channel capable of transporting LF and EF. Protein translocation through the channel is driven by a proton electrochemical potential gradient on a time scale of seconds. A paradoxical aspect of this is that although LF(N) (the N-terminal 263 residues of LF), on which most of our experiments were performed, has a net negative charge, it is driven

SUBMITTER: Basilio D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2654084 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature