Like a variety of other pathogenic bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila secretes a pore-forming toxin that contribute to its virulence. The last decade has not only increased our knowledge about the structure of this toxin, called aerolysin, but has also shed light on how it interacts with its target cell and how the cell reacts to this stress. Whereas pore-forming toxins are generally thought to lead to brutal death by osmotic lysis of the cell, based on what is observed for erythrocytes, recent studies have started to reveal far more complicated pathways leading to death of nucleated mammalian cells.
Type
research article
Authors
Publication date
2001
Published in
Volume
39
Issue
11
Start page
1637
End page
1645
Note
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Geneva, 30 quai E. Ansermet, 1211 4, Geneva, Switzerland
Peer reviewed
REVIEWED
EPFL units
Available on Infoscience
January 30, 2009
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