title: Molecular composition of Clostridium botulinum type A progenitor toxins.
abstract: The molecular composition of progenitor toxins produced by a Clostridium botulinum type A strain (A-NIH) was analyzed. The strain produced three types of progenitor toxins (19 S, 16 S, and 12 S) as reported previously. Purified 19 S and 16 S toxins demonstrated the same banding profiles on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), indicating that they consist of the same protein components. The nontoxic components of the 19 S and 16 S toxins are a nontoxic non-hemagglutinin (HA) (molecular mass, 120 kDa) and HA. HA could be fractionated into five subcomponents with molecular masses of 52, 35, 20, 19, and 15 kDa in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol. The molar ratios of neurotoxins, nontoxic non-HAs, and each HA subcomponent of the 19 S and 16 S toxins showed that only HA-35 of the 19 S toxin was approximately twice the size of that of the 16 S toxin, suggesting that the 19 S toxin is a dimer of the 16 S toxin cross-linked by the 35-kDa subcomponent. The nontoxic non-HA of the 12 S toxin, but not those of the 19 S and 16 S toxins, demonstrated two bands with molecular masses of 106 and 13 kDa on SDS-PAGE with or without 2-mercaptoethanol. It was concluded from the N-terminal amino acid sequences that 106- and 13-kDa proteins were generated by a cleavage of whole nontoxic non-HA. This may explain why the 12 S and 16 S (and 19 S) toxins exist in the same culture. We also found that the HA and its 35-kDa subcomponent exist in a free state in the culture fluid along with three types of progenitor toxins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujinaga
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeshi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moriishi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oguma
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D003014:Clostridium botulinum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D006388:Hemagglutinins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D006388:Hemagglutinins; D009498:Neurotoxins; D001905:Botulinum Toxins