Channel-forming toxins: tales of transformation

Abstract

Channel-forming bacterial toxins undergo a series of remarkable changes in solubility, oligomerization state, structure and dynamics during the processes of membrane binding, assembly, membrane insertion and channel formation. Recent high-resolution crystal structures of channel-forming toxins, in both water-soluble and membrane-bound, channel-formed states, have brought a wealth of new information to bear on issues of structure, mechanism and function.