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Bacterial pore-forming toxins

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are widely distributed in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. PFTs can act as virulence factors that bacteria utilise in dissemination and host colonisation or, alternatively, they can be employed to compete with rival microbes in polymicrobial niches. PFTs tran...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ulhuq, Fatima R., Mariano, Giuseppina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Microbiology Society 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9558359/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35333704
http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001154
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author Ulhuq, Fatima R.
Mariano, Giuseppina
author_facet Ulhuq, Fatima R.
Mariano, Giuseppina
author_sort Ulhuq, Fatima R.
collection PubMed
description Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are widely distributed in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. PFTs can act as virulence factors that bacteria utilise in dissemination and host colonisation or, alternatively, they can be employed to compete with rival microbes in polymicrobial niches. PFTs transition from a soluble form to become membrane-embedded by undergoing large conformational changes. Once inserted, they perforate the membrane, causing uncontrolled efflux of ions and/or nutrients and dissipating the protonmotive force (PMF). In some instances, target cells intoxicated by PFTs display additional effects as part of the cellular response to pore formation. Significant progress has been made in the mechanistic description of pore formation for the different PFTs families, but in several cases a complete understanding of pore structure remains lacking. PFTs have evolved recognition mechanisms to bind specific receptors that define their host tropism, although this can be remarkably diverse even within the same family. Here we summarise the salient features of PFTs and highlight where additional research is necessary to fully understand the mechanism of pore formation by members of this diverse group of protein toxins.
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spelling pubmed-95583592022-10-14 Bacterial pore-forming toxins Ulhuq, Fatima R. Mariano, Giuseppina Microbiology (Reading) Reviews Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are widely distributed in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. PFTs can act as virulence factors that bacteria utilise in dissemination and host colonisation or, alternatively, they can be employed to compete with rival microbes in polymicrobial niches. PFTs transition from a soluble form to become membrane-embedded by undergoing large conformational changes. Once inserted, they perforate the membrane, causing uncontrolled efflux of ions and/or nutrients and dissipating the protonmotive force (PMF). In some instances, target cells intoxicated by PFTs display additional effects as part of the cellular response to pore formation. Significant progress has been made in the mechanistic description of pore formation for the different PFTs families, but in several cases a complete understanding of pore structure remains lacking. PFTs have evolved recognition mechanisms to bind specific receptors that define their host tropism, although this can be remarkably diverse even within the same family. Here we summarise the salient features of PFTs and highlight where additional research is necessary to fully understand the mechanism of pore formation by members of this diverse group of protein toxins. Microbiology Society 2022-03-25 /pmc/articles/PMC9558359/ /pubmed/35333704 http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001154 Text en © 2022 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
spellingShingle Reviews
Ulhuq, Fatima R.
Mariano, Giuseppina
Bacterial pore-forming toxins
title Bacterial pore-forming toxins
title_full Bacterial pore-forming toxins
title_fullStr Bacterial pore-forming toxins
title_full_unstemmed Bacterial pore-forming toxins
title_short Bacterial pore-forming toxins
title_sort bacterial pore-forming toxins
topic Reviews
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9558359/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35333704
http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001154
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