Abstract
Eukaryotic cells are characterized by an intense trafficking of proteins, peptides and chemicals in and out of the cell as well as by trafficking within the various cell organelles. A group of bacterial protein toxins interfere with vesicular trafficking inside cells. Clostridial neurotoxins affect mainly the highly regulated fusion of neurotransmitter and hormones containing vesicles with the plasma membrane. They cleave the three SNARE proteins: VAMP, SNAP-25 and syntaxin, and this selective proteolysis results in a blockade of exocytosis. The Helicobacter pylori cytotoxin is implicated in the pathogenesis of gastroduodenal ulcers. It causes a progressive and extensive vacuolation of cells followed by necrosis, consequent to a cytotoxin induced alteration of membrane trafficking at the level of late endosomes. Vacuoles origine from this compartment in a rab7 dependent process and swell because they are acidic and accumulate membrane permeant amines.
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