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Updated: Jul 8, 2025
Detection of Toxin Translocation into the Host Cytosol by Surface Plasmon Resonance
Published on: January 3, 2012
Toxinome-the bacterial protein toxin database
Aleks Danov1, Ofir Segev1, Avi Bograd1
1Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Institute of Environmental Science, The Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
Importance:
Microbes use protein toxins as important tools to attack neighboring cells, microbial or eukaryotic, and for self-killing when attacked by viruses. These toxins work through different mechanisms to inhibit cell growth or kill cells. Microbes also use antitoxin proteins to neutralize the toxin activities. Here, we developed a comprehensive database called Toxinome of nearly two million toxins and antitoxins that are encoded in 59,475 bacterial genomes. We described the distribution of bacterial toxins and identified that they are depleted by bacteria that live in hot and cold temperatures. We found 5,161 cases in which toxins and antitoxins are densely clustered in bacterial genomes and termed these areas "Toxin Islands." The Toxinome database is a useful resource for anyone interested in toxin biology and evolution, and it can guide the discovery of new toxins.
