Review
Food Science & Technology
Michel R. Popoff, Holger Bruggemann
Summary: Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani are bacteria that produce potent neurotoxins and cause paralysis. The synthesis of neurotoxins is regulated by complex networks involving environmental factors, nutrition, and regulatory pathways.
Review
Immunology
Alexander M. Rawson, Andrew W. Dempster, Christopher M. Humphreys, Nigel P. Minton
Summary: Clostridium botulinum is a bacteria that is classified based on its ability to produce botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT). BoNT is the main virulence factor and the cause of botulism, a potentially fatal disease characterized by paralysis. The BoNT is used for medical treatments and in the cosmetic industry due to its potency and specificity.
Article
Medical Laboratory Technology
Jun Ho Jeon, Chi-Hwan Choi, Jeong Hyun Kim, Junghee Hyun, Eun-Sun Choi, Sang-Yoon Choi, Yong-Woo Shin, Seong Wook Pyo, Dae-Won Kim, Byung Hak Kang, Young Joon Park, Gi-eun Rhie
Summary: This study genetically characterized a Clostridium botulinum strain isolated from the first case of infant botulism in Korea, revealing that the strain possessed a C. botulinum neurotoxin type A with an unexpressed B gene. Analysis showed genetic diversity of toxin gene clusters in the strain CB-27.
ANNALS OF LABORATORY MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Travis G. Wentz, Benjamin J. M. Tremblay, Marite Bradshaw, Andrew C. Doxey, Shashi K. Sharma, John-Demian Sauer, Sabine Pellett
Summary: This study used bioinformatic analysis to investigate the CRISPR-Cas systems of 241 strains of C. botulinum and C. sporogenes. The results showed that the CRISPR-Cas systems mainly prevent the transfer of botulinum toxin gene clusters, rather than directly targeting the toxin gene clusters themselves. Additionally, comparative genomics analysis revealed that these genomic features often occupy the same hypervariable loci in both species.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Anna Mertaoja, Gerald Mascher, Maria B. Nowakowska, Hannu Korkeala, Adriano O. Henriques, Miia Lindstrom
Summary: Toxin production and sporulation are key determinants of pathogenesis in Clostridia, and their relationship is neither tightly co-regulated nor strictly independent. The population structure and overall heterogeneity are influenced by growth phase and environmental conditions, with cold temperature inducing greater diversity and cultural stability, possibly related to the adaptation of C. botulinum type E.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Carolina Luquez, Jessica L. Halpin, Janet Dykes
Summary: Botulinum neurotoxin-producing species of Clostridium exhibit high diversity, with at least four different species identified. Non-toxigenic strains closely related to toxigenic strains are likely the same species. Previous proposals to reclassify these organisms have been hindered by the concern of confusion within the healthcare and scientific community.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maria B. Nowakowska, Katja Selby, Adina Przykopanski, Maren Krueger, Nadja Krez, Brigitte G. Dorner, Martin B. Dorner, Rongsheng Jin, Nigel P. Minton, Andreas Rummel, Miia Lindstrom
Summary: Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs), produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, are highly toxic substances that can cause botulism. This research developed a safe alternative strain of C. botulinum that produces inactive BoNT, which can be used for public health risk management, food preservation strategies, understanding toxinogenesis, and structural studies.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Kyle S. Gregory, Tejaswini B. Mahadeva, Sai Man Liu, K. Ravi Acharya
Summary: Botulinum neurotoxins are toxic substances that can cause botulism, but they can also be used to treat neuromuscular conditions. This study reveals the crystal structures of the cell binding domain of botulinum neurotoxin A2 and its interactions with the receptor ganglioside GD1a. The findings provide important insights into the binding mechanism between the toxin and its receptor.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rebekah P. Dyer, Hariny M. Isoda, Gabriela S. Salcedo, Gaetano Speciale, Madison H. Fletcher, Linh Q. Le, Yi Liu, Karen Brami-Cherrier, Shiazah Z. Malik, Edwin J. Vazquez-Cintron, Andrew C. Chu, David C. Rupp, Birgitte P. S. Jacky, Thu T. M. Nguyen, Benjamin B. Katz, Lance E. Steward, Sudipta Majumdar, Amy D. Brideau-Andersen, Gregory A. Weiss
Summary: A directed evolution method was used to retarget the protease activity of botulinum neurotoxin serotype A. The resulting variant showed improved specificity and catalytic efficiency for SNAP23 compared to SNAP25. Importantly, the modified toxin retained its ability to cleave SNAP23 and enter neurons.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Caren Antoniazzi, Mariia Belinskaia, Tomas Zurawski, Seshu Kumar Kaza, J. Oliver Dolly, Gary W. Lawrence
Summary: Chimeras of botulinum neurotoxin serotype A and E protease showed potential analgesic effects by inhibiting nocifensive behavior and decreasing CGRP release.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Taylor S. Steele, John K. Brunson, Yukari Maeno, Ryuta Terada, Andrew E. Allen, Mari Yotsu-Yamashita, Jonathan R. Chekan, Bradley S. Moore
Summary: The biosynthetic pathways of domoic acid differ between diatoms and red macroalgae, with the absence of a critical enzyme in red macroalgae. Red macroalgae produce domoic acid via isodomoic acid B, with a unique origin of the rad genes compared to diatoms. The production of domoic acid in diatoms and red macroalgae involves a combination of native eukaryotic CYP450 neofunctionalization and horizontal gene transfer.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Agnieszka Morzywolek, Magdalena Plotka, Anna-Karina Kaczorowska, Monika Szadkowska, Lukasz P. Kozlowski, Dariusz Wyrzykowski, Joanna Makowska, Jerel J. Waters, Steven M. Swift, David M. Donovan, Tadeusz Kaczorowski
Summary: This study characterized an endolysin enzyme called LysB derived from Clostridium botulinum, which showed significant lytic activity against bacteria of the Clostridium genus but not against Gram-negative bacteria. The optimal lytic activity of LysB occurred between pH 4.0 and 7.5, making it a potential tool for controlling this important pathogen.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Heather N'te Inzalaco, William H. Tepp, Chase Fredrick, Marite Bradshaw, Eric A. Johnson, Sabine Pellett
Summary: This study investigates the impact of arginine enrichment on the production and stability of botulinum neurotoxin in Clostridium botulinum cultures, revealing a pH shift induced by arginine that influences posttranslational control mechanisms. Maintenance of an acidic culture pH and the presence of an extracellular metalloprotease also play a role in toxin stability and degradation.
Review
Food Science & Technology
Kyle S. Gregory, K. Ravi Acharya
Summary: Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are highly potent neurotoxins that cause neuromuscular paralysis by cleaving SNARE complex proteins. They have high affinity and specificity for neuromuscular junctions. This review focuses on the structural analysis of the cell-binding domain of different BoNT subtypes, providing insights into their functions and potential therapeutic applications.
Article
Microbiology
Pengya Gao, Changde Wu, Jin Zhang, Shuping Wang, Ying Huang, Yinping Dong, Tingting Liu, Changyun Ye, Xuefang Xu, Wenwen Xin
Summary: Clostridium botulinum is the causative pathogen of botulism, and its high toxicity requires a sensitive detection method. This study used micro-drop digital PCR to detect more positive samples in clinical samples and shorten the enrichment time, which is important for laboratory diagnosis and epidemiological work.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Michael James Mansfield, Travis Gwynn Wentz, Sicai Zhang, Elliot Jeon Lee, Min Dong, Shashi Kant Sharma, Andrew Charles Doxey
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2019)
Article
Microbiology
Andrew C. Doxey, Michael J. Mansfield, Briallen Lobb
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kathleen E. Orrell, Michael J. Mansfield, Andrew C. Doxey, Roman A. Melnyk
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Emilie Spasov, Jackson M. Tsuji, Laura A. Hug, Andrew C. Doxey, Laura A. Sauder, Wayne J. Parker, Josh D. Neufeld
Article
Microbiology
Briallen Lobb, Rhiannon Hodgson, Michael D. J. Lynch, Michael J. Mansfield, Jiujun Cheng, Trevor C. Charles, Josh D. Neufeld, Paul M. Craig, Andrew C. Doxey
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Arinjay Banerjee, Andrew C. Doxey, Benjamin J-M Tremblay, Michael J. Mansfield, Sonu Subudhi, Jeremy A. Hirota, Matthew S. Miller, Andrew G. McArthur, Samira Mubareka, Karen Mossman
JOURNAL OF GENERAL VIROLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sura Ali, Benjamin Jenkins, Jiujun Cheng, Briallen Lobb, Xin Wei, Suhelen Egan, Trevor C. Charles, Brendan J. McConkey, John Austin, Andrew C. Doxey
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Benjamin J-M Tremblay, Briallen Lobb, Andrew C. Doxey
Summary: PhyloCorrelate is a computational framework for gene co-occurrence analysis that combines various co-occurrence metrics to optimize the analysis of gene associations in large phylogenomic databases, enabling gene function prediction.
Article
Microbiology
Michael J. Mansfield, Benjamin J-M Tremblay, Ji Zeng, Xin Wei, Harold Hodgins, Jay Worley, Lynn Bry, Min Dong, Andrew C. Doxey
Article
Biology
Daniel Min, Andrew C. Doxey, Josh D. Neufeld
Summary: AXIOME3 is a completely redeveloped pipeline for small subunit ribosomal RNA data analysis, with an interactive web interface that simplifies configuration processes and task status tracking. It uses an automated pipeline wrapped around QIIME2 to generate various outputs, including amplicon sequence variant tables, taxonomic classifications, phylogenetic trees, biodiversity metrics, and ordinations.
Article
Biology
Seiji N. Sugiman-Marangos, Shivneet K. Gill, Michael J. Mansfield, Kathleen E. Orrell, Andrew C. Doxey, Roman A. Melnyk
Summary: Diphtheria toxin (DT) is a bacterial exotoxin that plays a central role in toxinology. However, the origins and evolutionary adaptation of DT to human hosts are still unknown. In this study, the researchers determined the high-resolution structures of DT homologs from Streptomyces albireticuli and Seinonella peptonophila. Despite not being toxic to human cells, these DT homologs displayed significant structural similarities to DT. The researchers found that the functional determinants of host range extended beyond cellular receptor binding, and differences in pH-induced pore formation and cytosolic release played a major role in toxin delivery into cells. This work provides insights into the expanding family of DT toxins and the mechanisms of host adaptation.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniel Richard, Pushpanathan Muthuirulan, Jennifer Aguiar, Andrew C. Doxey, Arinjay Banerjee, Karen Mossman, Jeremy Hirota, Terence D. Capellini
Summary: This study makes use of bioinformatic analysis to propose hypotheses for ACE2 gene regulation and validates these hypotheses through functional experiments. It identifies regulatory elements associated with immune signaling and oxidative stress pathways. The findings contribute to our understanding of ACE2 gene regulation under normal conditions and immune challenges, supporting further research on these regulatory mechanisms in the context of current and future SARS-related virus infection/disease.
Article
Oncology
Alessia Roma, Matthew Tcheng, Nawaz Ahmed, Sarah Walker, Preethi Jayanth, Mark D. Minden, Kristin Hope, Praveen P. Nekkar Rao, Jessica Luc, Andrew C. Doxey, Julie A. Reisz, Rachel Culp-Hill, Angelo 'Alessandro, Paul A. Spagnuolo
Summary: AML cells depend on oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial electron transport chain activity, and inhibiting CII can selectively induce death of AML cells while sparing normal hematopoietic cells. This study provides insight into the metabolic mechanisms of selective CII inhibition in AML and offers potential therapeutic targets.
MOLECULAR CANCER RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xin Wei, Gabriel Moreno-Hagelsieb, Bernard R. Glick, Andrew C. Doxey
Summary: Cytokinin, the plant hormone used in agriculture, is synthesized by the enzyme Isopentenyl transferase (IPT). Comparisons of IPT genes between plant pathogens and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) show differences in gene structure, regulation, and activity levels, which may determine their effects on host plants.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Nilanth Yogadasan, Andrew C. Doxey, Simon D. X. Chuong
Summary: C-4 photosynthesis is a remarkable example of convergent evolution. In this study, a machine learning approach was used to identify plastid genes with distinguishing information for C-3 and C-4 classification. Several key sequences and sites were identified that are highly predictive of C-3/C-4 status.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)