Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
29
pubmed:dateCreated
1989-11-17
pubmed:abstractText
Fragment A of diphtheria toxin has been shown to insert into lipid bilayers at low pH (Montecucco, C., Schiavo, G., and Tomasi, M. (1985) Biochem. J. 231, 123-128; Zhao, J.-M., and London, E. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 15369-15377). In this report, evidence is provided which demonstrates that fragment A, like diphtheria toxin, can also cause the release of a fluorescent dye (calcein) from vesicles under acidic conditions and that this release parallels fragment A insertion into the membrane. Although the permeability changes are not as large as those obtained with whole toxin (Jiang, G.-S., Solow, R., and Hu, V. W. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 13424-13429), molecular sieving experiments indicate that the lesion induced by fragment A increases in size with decreasing pH and reaches an upper limit of 30 A at pH 4.0. In addition to size differences, the lesion induced by fragment A releases calcein in a graded manner, whereas diphtheria toxin causes an all-or-none release. One possible interpretation of this result is that the fragment A lesion is transient in comparison to that induced by whole toxin. Although the molecular bases for the observed differences are not understood, these data suggest that fragment A interaction with the lipid bilayer may play a significant role in mediating its own translocation across membranes and that fragment B may aid this process by initiating, enlarging, and stabilizing the lesion formed.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
0021-9258
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
264
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
17170-3
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1989
pubmed:articleTitle
Fragment A of diphtheria toxin causes pH-dependent lesions in model membranes.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, D.C. 20037.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.