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- ***********************************
- * Aerolysin type toxins signature *
- ***********************************
-
- Aerolysin [1] is a cytolytic toxin exported by the gram negative Aeromonas
- bacteria. The mature toxin binds to eukaryotic cells and aggregates to form
- holes (approximately 3 nm in diameter) leading to the destruction of the
- membrane permeability barrier and osmotic lysis. Staphylococcus aureus also
- exports a cytotoxin, alpha-toxin [2], whose biological activity is similar to
- that of aerolysin. The sequences of both toxins are not similar except for a
- stretch of ten residues rather well conserved.
-
- -Consensus pattern: T-x(2)-N-W-x(2)-T-N-T
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
-
- -Note: Pseudomonas aeruginosa cytotoxin [3] has been said to contain a region
- whose sequence is similar to that of the conserved domain of areolysin/alpha-
- toxin, but the similarity is very weak and this toxin is not picked up by the
- above pattern.
-
- -Last update: April 1990 / Text revised.
-
- [ 1] Howard S.P., Garland W.J., Green M.J., Buckley J.T.
- J. Bacteriol. 169:2869-2871(1987).
- [ 2] Gray G.S., Kehoe M.
- Infect. Immun. 46:615-618(1984).
- [ 3] Hayashi T., Kamio Y., Hishinuma F., Usami Y., Titani K., Terawaki Y.
- Mol. Microbiol. 3:861-868(1989).
-