Combined molecular dynamics and continuum solvent studies of the pre-pore Cry4Aa trimer suggest its stability in solution and how it may form pore.

ABSTRACT: Cry4Aa toxin is one of the highly specific mosquito-larvicidal proteins produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis. It is thought to form pores in the larval midgut membrane that cause membrane leakage and subsequent insect death. Therefore, Cry4Aa and other Cry toxins have been used as efficient and safe bacterial insecticides to control the disease-carrying mosquitoes such as Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex. However, we still do not clearly understand how Cry toxins kill mosquito-larvae at molecular details. Recent electron crystallographic images of Cry4Ba toxin, another toxin closely related to Cry4Aa toxin, have suggested that the protein forms trimer in aqueous solution and in lipid monolayer. Moreover, the unit cell of X-ray crystal structure of Cry4Ba toxin

SUBMITTER: Taveecharoenkool T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3239330 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature