2f6e
Clostridium difficile Toxin A C-terminal fragment 1 (TcdA-f1)
Structural highlights
FunctionTCDA_CLODI Precursor of a cytotoxin that targets and disrupts the colonic epithelium, inducing the host inflammatory and innate immune responses and resulting in diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis (PubMed:20844489). TcdA and TcdB constitute the main toxins that mediate the pathology of C.difficile infection, an opportunistic pathogen that colonizes the colon when the normal gut microbiome is disrupted (PubMed:19252482, PubMed:20844489). Compared to TcdB, TcdA is less virulent and less important for inducing the host inflammatory and innate immune responses (PubMed:19252482). This form constitutes the precursor of the toxin: it enters into host cells and mediates autoprocessing to release the active toxin (Glucosyltransferase TcdA) into the host cytosol (By similarity). Targets colonic epithelia by binding to some receptor, and enters host cells via clathrin-mediated endocytosis (By similarity). Binding to LDLR, as well as carbohydrates and sulfated glycosaminoglycans on host cell surface contribute to entry into cells (PubMed:1670930, PubMed:31160825, PubMed:16622409). In contrast to TcdB, Frizzled receptors FZD1, FZD2 and FZD7 do not act as host receptors in the colonic epithelium for TcdA (PubMed:27680706). Once entered into host cells, acidification in the endosome promotes the membrane insertion of the translocation region and formation of a pore, leading to translocation of the GT44 and peptidase C80 domains across the endosomal membrane (By similarity). This activates the peptidase C80 domain and autocatalytic processing, releasing the N-terminal part (Glucosyltransferase TcdA), which constitutes the active part of the toxin, in the cytosol (PubMed:17334356, PubMed:19553670, PubMed:27571750).[UniProtKB:P18177][1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Active form of the toxin, which is released into the host cytosol following autoprocessing and inactivates small GTPases (PubMed:7775453, PubMed:24905543, PubMed:30622517, PubMed:22747490, PubMed:22267739). Acts by mediating monoglucosylation of small GTPases of the Rho family (Rac1, RhoA, RhoB, RhoC, Rap2A and Cdc42) in host cells at the conserved threonine residue located in the switch I region ('Thr-37/35'), using UDP-alpha-D-glucose as the sugar donor (PubMed:7775453, PubMed:24905543, PubMed:30622517, PubMed:22747490, PubMed:22267739). Monoglucosylation of host small GTPases completely prevents the recognition of the downstream effector, blocking the GTPases in their inactive form, leading to actin cytoskeleton disruption and cell death, resulting in the loss of colonic epithelial barrier function (PubMed:7775453). Also able to catalyze monoglucosylation of some members of the Ras family (H-Ras/HRAS, K-Ras/KRAS and N-Ras/NRAS), but with much less efficiency than with Rho proteins, suggesting that it does not act on Ras proteins in vivo (PubMed:30622517).[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Evolutionary Conservation Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf. Publication Abstract from PubMedClostridium difficile is a major nosocomial pathogen that produces two large protein toxins [toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB)] capable of disrupting intestinal epithelial cells. Both belong to the family of large clostridial cytotoxins, which are characterized by the presence of a repetitive C-terminal repetitive domain (CRD). In TcdA, the CRD is composed of 39 repeats that are responsible for binding to cell surface carbohydrates. To understand the molecular structural basis of cell binding by the toxins from C. difficile, we have determined a 1.85-A resolution crystal structure of a 127-aa fragment from the C terminus of the toxin A CRD. This structure reveals a beta-solenoid fold containing five repeats, with each repeat consisting of a beta-hairpin followed by a loop of 7-10 residues in short repeats (SRs) or 18 residues in long repeats (LRs). Adjacent pairs of beta-hairpins are related to each other by either 90 degree or 120 degree screw-axis rotational relationships, depending on the nature of the amino acids at key positions in adjacent beta-hairpins. Models of the complete CRDs of toxins A and B suggest that each CRD contains straight stretches of beta-solenoid composed of three to five SRs that are punctuated by kinks introduced by the presence of a single LR. These structural features provide a framework for understanding how large clostridial cytotoxins bind to cell surfaces and suggest approaches for developing novel treatments for C. difficile-associated diseases by blocking the binding of toxins to cell surfaces. Crystal structure of receptor-binding C-terminal repeats from Clostridium difficile toxin A.,Ho JG, Greco A, Rupnik M, Ng KK Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Dec 20;102(51):18373-8. Epub 2005 Dec 12. PMID:16344467[15] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. References
| ||||||||||||||||||
