Molecular basis of activation of endopeptidase activity of botulinum neurotoxin type E.

Roshan V Kukreja, Shashi K Sharma, Bal Ram Singh

Botulinum Research Center and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02747, USA.

Biochemistry 2010 Mar 23

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Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are a group of large proteins that are responsible for the clinical syndrome of botulism. The seven immunologically distinct serotypes of BoNTs (A-G), each produced by various strains of Clostridium botulinum, act on the neuromuscular junction by blocking the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, thereby resulting in flaccid muscle paralysis. BoNTs are synthesized as single inactive polypeptide chains that are cleaved by endogenous or exogenous proteases to generate the active dichain form of the toxin. Nicking of the single chain BoNT/E to the dichain form is associated with 100-fold increase in toxicity. Here we investigated the activation mechanism of botulinum neurotoxin type E upon nicking and subsequent reduction of disulfide bond. It was observed that nicking of BoNT/E significantly enhances its endopeptidase activity and that at the physiological temperature of 37 degrees C the reduced form of nicked BoNT/E adopts a dynamically flexible conformation resulting from the exposure of hydrophobic segments and facilitating optimal cleavage of its substrate SNAP-25. Such reduction-induced increase in the flexibility of the polypeptide folding provides a rationale for the mechanism of BoNT/E endopeptidase against its intracellular substrate, SNAP-25, and complements current understanding of the mechanistics of interaction between the substrate and BoNT endopeptidase.

Citation

Roshan V Kukreja, Shashi K Sharma, Bal Ram Singh. Molecular basis of activation of endopeptidase activity of botulinum neurotoxin type E. Biochemistry. 2010 Mar 23;49(11):2510-9