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Science 13 October 2000:
Vol. 290. no. 5490, pp. 287 - 288
DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5490.287
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Perspectives

MICROBIOLOGY:
Arresting Features of Bacterial Toxins

Jenifer Coburn and John M. Leong

Bacteria produce an arsenal of sophisticated toxins that disrupt the normal processes of the host cell, usually by modifying or inactivating host cell proteins. Now, as Coburn and Leong discuss in their Perspective, members of the cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) family have been identified as enzymes that attack DNA (and not protein) within the host cell (Lara-Tejero and Galán). By attacking DNA, perhaps during chromosomal replication, CDTs cause the host cell to halt in G2 phase of the cell cycle.

J. Coburn is in the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA. J. M. Leong is in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cytolethal Distending Toxin: A Bacterial Bullet Targeted to Nucleus.
M. Ohara, E. Oswald, and M. Sugai (2004)
J. Biochem. 136, 409-413
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
INTEGRATING RECENT ADVANCES IN NEUROSCIENCE INTO UNDERGRADUATE NEUROSCIENCE AND PHYSIOLOGY COURSES.
C. L. Cleland (2002)
Advan Physiol Educ 26, 271-277
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Identification of Escherichia coli Genes That Are Specifically Expressed in a Murine Model of Septicemic Infection.
M. A. Khan and R. E. Isaacson (2002)
Infect. Immun. 70, 3404-3412
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)