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In Vivo Formation Of Hybrid Toxins Comprising Shiga Toxin And The Shiga-Like Toxins And Role Of The B Subunit In Localization And Cytotoxic Activity, Debra L. Weinstein, Matthew P. Jackson, Liyanage P. Perera, Randall K. Holmes, Alison D. O'Brien

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Shiga toxin, Shiga-like toxin I (SLT-I) and Shiga-like toxin II (SLT-H) are cell-associated cytotoxins that kill both Vero cells and HeLa cells, whereas Shiga-like toxin II variant (SLT-llv) is an extracellular cytotoxin that is more cytotoxic for Vero cells than for HeLa cells. The basis for these differences in cytotoxin localization and host cell specificity were examined in this study. The A and B subunit genes of Shiga toxin and the SLTs were recombined by two methods so that hybrid toxins would be formed in vivo. Complementation of heterologous subunits was accomplished by cloning the individual A and B subunit …