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Publication Abstract from PubMed

How botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) cross the host intestinal epithelial barrier in foodborne botulism is poorly understood. Here, we present the crystal structure of a clostridial hemagglutinin (HA) complex of serotype BoNT/A bound to the cell adhesion protein E-cadherin at 2.4 angstroms. The HA complex recognizes E-cadherin with high specificity involving extensive intermolecular interactions and also binds to carbohydrates on the cell surface. Binding of the HA complex sequesters E-cadherin in the monomeric state, compromising the E-cadherin-mediated intercellular barrier and facilitating paracellular absorption of BoNT/A. We reconstituted the complete 14-subunit BoNT/A complex using recombinantly produced components and demonstrated that abolishing either E-cadherin- or carbohydrate-binding of the HA complex drastically reduces oral toxicity of BoNT/A complex in vivo. Together, these studies establish the molecular mechanism of how HAs contribute to the oral toxicity of BoNT/A.

Molecular basis for disruption of E-cadherin adhesion by botulinum neurotoxin A complex.,Lee K, Zhong X, Gu S, Kruel AM, Dorner MB, Perry K, Rummel A, Dong M, Jin R Science. 2014 Jun 20;344(6190):1405-10. doi: 10.1126/science.1253823. PMID:24948737^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.