Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Contreras E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6599013 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Nature communications 20190628 1
Clostridial neurotoxins, including tetanus and botulinum neurotoxins, generally target vertebrates. We show here that this family of toxins has a much broader host spectrum, by identifying PMP1, a clostridial-like neurotoxin that selectively targets anopheline mosquitoes. Isolation of PMP1 from Paraclostridium bifermentans strains collected in anopheline endemic areas on two continents indicates it is widely distributed. The toxin likely evolved from an ancestral form that targets the nervous sy ...[more]