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The best defense is a good offense--Salmonella deploys an ADP-ribosylating toxin

M L Lesnick1, D G Guiney

  • 1Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0640, USA.

Trends in Microbiology
|February 13, 2001
PubMed

Insights

Bacterial toxins cause severe diseases like cholera by altering cell metabolism through ADP-ribosylation. Emerging research suggests this mechanism is also key in intracellular pathogen Salmonella.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Pathogenesis

Background:

  • Toxigenic bacterial infections, such as cholera and diphtheria, cause severe disease through potent secreted toxins.
  • These toxins utilize ADP-ribosylation as their primary catalytic mechanism, modifying host proteins.
  • ADP-ribosylating toxins are a diverse family, including cholera toxin, diphtheria toxin, pertussis toxin, and E. coli heat-labile toxin (LT).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight the role of ADP-ribosylation in mediating disease.
  • To introduce the concept of ADP-ribosylation in intracellular pathogenesis.
  • To discuss the implications of recent research in Salmonella.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on ADP-ribosylating toxins.
  • Analysis of molecular mechanisms of toxin action.
  • Examination of emerging research on Salmonella pathogenesis.

Main Results:

  • ADP-ribosylation is a conserved mechanism by which toxins disrupt host cell metabolic processes.
  • The transfer of ADP-ribose from NAD to host proteins is central to toxin activity.
  • Recent studies indicate ADP-ribosylation plays a role in intracellular pathogen strategies.

Conclusions:

  • ADP-ribosylation is a critical mechanism for bacterial virulence, explaining severe clinical manifestations.
  • The understanding of ADP-ribosylation is expanding beyond extracellular toxins to intracellular pathogenesis.
  • Salmonella research is contributing to a new paradigm of toxin action within host cells.

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