TOXINS FROM ANAEROBIC-BACTERIA - SPECIFICITY AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMSOF ACTION

Major advances have been made in the past five years in the identifica tion of cellular targets of toxins produced by anaerobic bacteria. The se targets include the vesicular membrane docking and fusion apparatus , the actin cytoskeleton, the signal transduction machinery and the ce ll membrane. The recent discovery that large clostridial toxins (Clost ridium difficile A and B toxins, C. sordellii lethal and hemorrhagic t oxins, and alpha C. novyi toxin) are monoglucosyltransferases, togethe r with the establishment of the perfringolysin crystal structure, has led to new insights in the field of toxins from anaerobic bacteria.