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. 1992 Mar;60(3):784–790. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.3.784-790.1992

Purification and characterization of the lethal toxin (alpha-toxin) of Clostridium septicum.

J Ballard 1, A Bryant 1, D Stevens 1, R K Tweten 1
PMCID: PMC257555  PMID: 1541552

Abstract

Clostridium septicum lethal (alpha-toxin) was purified and found to be a basic protein (pI 8.4) of approximately 48 kDa that is both lethal and hemolytic. The alpha-toxin had a hemolytic activity of approximately 2 x 10(7) hemolytic units per mg and a 50% lethal dose of approximately 10 micrograms/kg of body weight for mice. The alpha-toxin formed concentration-dependent, sodium dodecyl sulfate-resistant aggregates of approximately 230 kDa. Mice immunized with alpha-toxin showed a significant increase in survival time over mock-immunized mice when challenged with C. septicum. Rabbit polyclonal antibody was generated against the purified toxin and was used to confirm that toxin with the same molecular weight was present in seven different C. septicum isolates. No proteins in the supernatants from cultures of Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium histolyticum, Clostridium chauvoei, or Clostridium difficile were found to react with the C. septicum alpha-toxin-specific antibody.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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