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Cholera toxin: mechanisms of entry into host cells

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Microbial Protein Toxins

Part of the book series: Topics in Current Genetics ((TCG,volume 11))

Abstract

Cholera toxin moves from the plasma membrane to the ER of host cells to cause disease. Trafficking in this pathway depends on toxin binding to specific ceramide-based glycolipids that associate with lipid rafts at the cell surface. In the ER, a portion of the toxin is unfolded, dissociated from the rest of the toxin and retro-translocated to the cytosol where it activates adenylyl cyclase to initiate the severe secretory diarrhea seen in cholera.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GI Cell Biology, Children’s Hospital Boston, the Harvard Digestive Diseases Center, and the Department of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA

    David E. Saslowsky, Michael Kothe & Wayne I. Lencer

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  1. David E. Saslowsky
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  2. Michael Kothe
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  3. Wayne I. Lencer
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Manfred J. Schmitt Raffael Schaffrath

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Saslowsky, D.E., Kothe, M., Lencer, W.I. Cholera toxin: mechanisms of entry into host cells. In: Schmitt, M.J., Schaffrath, R. (eds) Microbial Protein Toxins. Topics in Current Genetics, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/b100318

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