PROSITE documentation PDOC00247Aerolysin 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, α-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.
Note:Pseudomonas aeruginosa cytotoxin [3] has been said to contain a region whose sequence is similar to that of the conserved domain of areolysin/α- toxin, but the similarity is very weak and this toxin is not picked up by the above pattern.
Last update:November 1997 / Pattern and text revised.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROSITE method (with tools and information) covered by this documentation:
| 1 | Authors | Howard S.P. Garland W.J. Green M.J. Buckley J.T. |
| Title | Nucleotide sequence of the gene for the hole-forming toxin aerolysin of Aeromonas hydrophila. | |
| Source | J. Bacteriol. 169:2869-2871(1987). | |
| PubMed ID | 3584074 |
| 2 | Authors | Gray G.S. Kehoe M. |
| Title | Primary sequence of the alpha-toxin gene from Staphylococcus aureus wood 46. | |
| Source | Infect. Immun. 46:615-618(1984). | |
| PubMed ID | 6500704 |
| 3 | Authors | Hayashi T. Kamio Y. Hishinuma F. Usami Y. Titani K. Terawaki Y. |
| Title | Pseudomonas aeruginosa cytotoxin: the nucleotide sequence of the gene and the mechanism of activation of the protoxin. | |
| Source | Mol. Microbiol. 3:861-868(1989). | |
| PubMed ID | 2507866 |
PROSITE is copyrighted by the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License, see prosite_license.html.
View entry in original PROSITE document format
View entry in raw text format (no links)