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The crystal structure of diphtheria toxin

Nature volume 357, pages 216–222 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

The crystal structure of the diphtheria toxin dimer at 2.5 Å resolution reveals a Y-shaped molecule of three domains. The catalytic domain, called fragment A, is of the α + β type. Fragment B actually consists of two domains. The transmembrane domain consists of nine α-helices, two pairs of which are unusually apolar and may participate in pH-triggered membrane insertion and translocation. The receptor-binding domain is a flattened β-barrel with a jelly-roll-like topology. Three distinct functions of the toxin, each carried out by a separate structural domain, can be useful in designing chimaeric proteins, such as immunotoxins, in which the receptor-binding domain is substituted with antibodies to target other cell types.

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Author notes

  1. Seunghyon Choe, Melanie J. Bennett, Gary Fujii, R. John Collier & David Eisenberg

    Present address: Vestar, Inc., San Dimas, California, 91773, USA

  2. Paul M. G. Curmi

    Present address: School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia

  3. Katherine A. Kantardjieff

    Present address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University, Fullerton, California, 92634, USA

  4. Seunghyon Choe, Melanie J. Bennett and David Eisenberg: Molecular Biology Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA

  5. R. John Collier: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Shipley Institute of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA

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    1. Seunghyon Choe
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    Choe, S., Bennett, M., Fujii, G. et al. The crystal structure of diphtheria toxin. Nature 357, 216–222 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/357216a0

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