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Review
. 2010 Jul;2(7):1690-703.
doi: 10.3390/toxins2071690. Epub 2010 Jun 29.

Production, secretion and biological activity of Bacillus cereus enterotoxins

Sonia Senesi  1 , Emilia Ghelardi
Affiliations
Review

Production, secretion and biological activity of Bacillus cereus enterotoxins

Sonia Senesi et al. Toxins (Basel). 2010 Jul.

Abstract

Bacillus cereus behaves as an opportunistic pathogen frequently causing gastrointestinal diseases, and it is increasingly recognized to be responsible for severe local or systemic infections. Pathogenicity of B. cereus mainly relies on the secretion of a wide array of toxins and enzymes and also on the ability to undergo swarming differentiation in response to surface-sensing. In this report, the pathogenicity exerted by B. cereus toxins is described with particular attention to the regulatory mechanisms of production and secretion of HBL, Nhe and CytK enterotoxins.

Keywords: hemolysin BL; B. cereus; cytotoxin K; non-hemolytic enterotoxin.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Discontinuous pattern of hemolysis produced by HBL on sheep blood agar.
Figure 2
Figure 2
X-ray crystal structure of the B component of HBL (Protein Data Bank; http://www.pdb.org/). The α/β head domain has been proposed to bind and insert into the membrane of susceptible cells [44].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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