Lecithinase bacterial

The second type of material includes spores, which may or may not produce disease symptoms but which can germinate in the insect gut and give rise to vegetative bacterial cells which in turn may produce, and exoenzymes such as phospholipases (lecithinases) or hyaluronidase. The phospholipases may produce direct toxic symptoms owing to their action on nervous or other phospholipid-containing tissue. Hyaluronidase breaks down hyaluronic acid and produces effects on animal tissue which are morphologically similar to the breakdown of insect gut wall in the presence of microbial insecticide preparations. 

This zinc-dependent enzyme [EC 3.1.4.3] (also known as lipophosphodiesterase I, lecithinase C, Clostridium welchii ce-toxin, and Clostridium oedematiens 13- and y-toxins) catalyzes the hydrolysis of a phosphatidylcholine to produce 1,2-diacylglycerol and choline phosphate. The enzyme isolated from bacterial sources also acts on sphingomyelin and phosphatidylinositol however, the enzyme isolated from seminal plasma does not act on phosphatidylinositol. See Micelle... 

MacFarlane, M. G. The biochemistry of bacterial toxins. 2. The enzymic specificity of Clostridium welchii lecithinase. Biochem. J. 42, 587—90 (1948). 

Herbert and Todd (54) and Bernheimer (7) have expressed the view that many of the bacterial hemolysins may be enzymes. In only one case, however, namely the lecithinase or lethal toxin of Cl. welchii, is the substrate for an hemolysin known (82). 

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