title: The pore-forming haemolysins of bacillus cereus: a review.
abstract: The Bacillus cereus sensu lato group contains diverse Gram-positive spore-forming bacteria that can cause gastrointestinal diseases and severe eye infections in humans. They have also been incriminated in a multitude of other severe, and frequently fatal, clinical infections, such as osteomyelitis, septicaemia, pneumonia, liver abscess and meningitis, particularly in immuno-compromised patients and preterm neonates. The pathogenic properties of this organism are mediated by the synergistic effects of a number of virulence products that promote intestinal cell destruction and/or resistance to the host immune system. This review focuses on the pore-forming haemolysins produced by B. cereus: haemolysin I (cereolysin O), haemolysin II, haemolysin III and haemolysin IV (CytK). Haemolysin I belongs to the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC) family whose best known members are listeriolysin O and perfringolysin O, produced by L. monocytogenes and C. perfringens respectively. HlyII and CytK are oligomeric ß-barrel pore-forming toxins related to the α-toxin of S. aureus or the ß-toxin of C. perfringens. The structure of haemolysin III, the least characterized haemolytic toxin from the B. cereus, group has not yet been determined.
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR 1319 MICALIS-AgroParisTech, La Minière, Guyancourt 78280, France. nalini.ramarao@jouy.inra.fr
authors.forename: Nalini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ramarao
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sanchis
mesh_terms: D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins