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. 1987 Jul;84(13):4364–4368. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.13.4364

Nucleotide sequence of the Shiga-like toxin genes of Escherichia coli.

S B Calderwood, F Auclair, A Donohue-Rolfe, G T Keusch, J J Mekalanos
PMCID: PMC305089  PMID: 3299365

Abstract

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the sltA and sltB genes that encode the Shiga-like toxin (SLT) produced by Escherichia coli phage H19B. The amino acid composition of the A and B subunits of SLT is very similar to that previously established for Shiga toxin from Shigella dysenteriae 1, and the deduced amino acid sequence of the B subunit of SLT is identical with that reported for the B subunit of Shiga toxin. The genes for the A and B subunits of SLT apparently constitute an operon, with only 12 nucleotides separating the coding regions. There is a 21-base-pair region of dyad symmetry overlapping the proposed promoter of the slt operon that may be involved in regulation of SLT production by iron. The peptide sequence of the A subunit of SLT is homologous to the A subunit of the plant toxin ricin, providing evidence for the hypothesis that certain prokaryotic toxins may be evolutionarily related to eukaryotic enzymes.

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