Tetanus Zinc endopeptidase

The most ingenious exocytosis toxins, however, come from the anaerobic bacteria Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani. The former produces the seven botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) A-G the latter produces tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT). All eight toxins consist of a heavy (H) chain and a light (L) chain that are associated by an interchain S-S bond. The L-chains enter the cytosol of axon terminals. Importantly, BoNT L-chains mainly enter peripheral cholinergic terminals, whereas the TeNT L-chain mainly enters cerebral and spinal cord GABAergic and glycinergic terminals. The L-chains are the active domains of the toxins. They are zinc-endopeptidases and specifically split the three core proteins of exocytosis, i.e. the SNAREs (Fig. 1 inset). Each ofthe eight toxins splits a... 

The clostridial neurotoxins responsible for tetanus and botulism form a new group of zinc-endopeptidases endowed with peculiar properties. They are produced as inactive precursors which are activated by specific proteolysis, followed by intracellular reduction of a single di-... 

Schiavo G, Poulain B, Rossetto O, Benfenati F, Tauc L, Montecucco C (1992 b) Tetanus toxin is a zinc protein and its inhibition of neurotrasmitter release and protease activity depend on zinc. In EMBOJ. 11 3577-83 Schiavo G, Rossetto O, Santucci A, DasGupta BR, Montecucco C (1992 c) Botulinum neurotoxins are zinc proteins. In J. Biol. Chem. 267 23479-83 Schiavo G, Rossetto O, Catsicas S, Polverino de Laureto P, DasGupta BR, Benfenati F, Montecucco C (1993 a) Identification of the nerve-terminal targets of botulinum neurotoxins serotypes A, D and E. In J. Biol. Chem. 268 23784-7 Schiavo G, Santucci A, DasGupta BR, Metha PP, Jontes J, Benfenati F, Wilson MC, Montecucco C (1993 b) Botulinum neurotoxins serotypes A and E cleave SNAP-25 at distinct COOH-terminal peptide bonds. In FEBS Lett. 335 99-103 Schiavo G, Shone CC, Rossetto O, Alexandre FCG, Montecucco C (1993 c) Botulinum neurotoxin serotype F is a zinc endopeptidase specific for VAMP/synOp-tobrevin. In J. Biol. Chem. 268 11516-9... 

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