A Structure-Function Analysis of Shiga-Like Toxin Type 2 of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia Coli

Abstract

Shiga toxin of Shigella dysenteriae I and Shiga-like toxins I and II (SLT-I and SLT-II) of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli are functionally similar, protein cytotoxins. These toxin molecules have a bipartite molecular structure which consists of an enzymatically active A subunit that inhibits protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells and an oligomeric B subunit that binds to globotriosylceramide glycolipid receptors on eukaryotic cells. The first objective of the project was to generate monoclonal antibodies against SLT-II and to investigate the molecular basis for antigenicity and toxin neutralization. Monoclonal antibodies were generated against a crude preparation of SLT-II produced by an E. coli K-12 strain lysogenized with the 933W toxin-converting phage of enterohemorrhagic E. coli 933 strain. Five monoclonal antibodies were isolated that were capable of neutralizing the cytotoxicity of SLT-II, but not SLT-I, Shiga toxin, or a variant of SLT-II produced by E. coli that causes edema disease of swine. All five monoclonal antibodies immunoprecipitated the isolated A subunit of SLT-II but not the B subunit. Of these five neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, four were of the immunoglobulin M class and one belonged to the immunoglobulin G1 subclass. All five monoclonal antibodies had K light chains. To identify the epitopes of SLT-II reactive with the monoclonal antibodies, a sublibrary of the sIt-II gene was created in lambda ZAP expression vector, and the recombinant phage library was screened with individual SLT-II neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. The sequences of the DNA inserts that expressed the immunoreactive epitopes contained sit-W gene segments larger than 1 kb in size. Therefore, sequence analysis of a larger pool of immunoreactive clones may be needed to identify the minimal coding region of each epitope.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 07, 1990
Accession Number
AD1010974

Entities

People

  • Liyanage Perera

Organizations

  • Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amino Acids
  • Bacteria
  • Biological Toxins
  • Biomedical And Dental Materials
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Membrane
  • Cell Physiological Processes
  • Cells
  • Chemistry
  • Epithelial Cells
  • Eukaryotes
  • Genetics
  • Health Services
  • Microbiology
  • Polymeric Films
  • Proteins

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Microbial Pathology
  • Molecular Genetics
  • Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry