title: Intracellular trafficking of bacterial toxins.
abstract: Bacterial toxins often translocate across a cellular membrane to gain access into the host cytosol, modifying cellular components in order to exert their toxic effects. To accomplish this feat, these toxins traffic to a membrane penetration site where they undergo conformational changes essential to eject the toxin's catalytic subunit into the cytosol. In this brief review, we highlight recent findings that elucidate both the trafficking pathways and membrane translocation mechanisms of toxins that cross the plasma, endosomal, or endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. These findings not only illuminate the specific nature of the host-toxin interactions during entry, but should also provide additional therapeutic strategies to prevent or alleviate the bacterial toxin-induced diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, 109 Zina Pitcher Place, Room 3043, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, 109 Zina Pitcher Place, Room 3043, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States. Electronic address: btsai@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Billy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism; D011992:Endosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000378:metabolism; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins