Trafficking of cholera toxin-ganglioside GM1 complex into Golgi and induction of toxicity depend on actin cytoskeleton.

Intestinal epithelial lipid rafts contain ganglioside GM1 that is the receptor for cholera toxin (CT). The ganglioside binds CT at the plasma membrane (PM) and carries the toxin through the trans-Golgi network (TGN) to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In the ER, a portion of the toxin unfolds and translocates to the cytosol to activate adenylyl cyclase.