Publications by authors named "K Aktories"

Mono-O-glycosylation of target proteins by bacterial toxins or effector proteins is a well-known mechanism by which bacteria interfere with essential functions of host cells. The respective glycosyltransferases are important virulence factors such as the Clostridioides difficile toxins A and B. Here, we describe two glycosyltransferases of Yersinia species that have a high sequence identity: YeGT from the zoonotic pathogen Yersinia enterocolitica and YkGT from the murine pathogen Yersinia kristensenii.

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Article Synopsis
  • Research on Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) focuses on its dangerous toxins, Toxin A (TcdA) and Toxin B (TcdB), and their contribution to severe diseases like antibiotic-associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis.
  • * Hypervirulent strains of C. difficile may produce an additional toxin, binary toxin CDT, which further complicates treatment and poses a health threat.
  • * Recent studies aim to understand how these toxins work at a molecular level and how they enter cells, with significant research efforts taking place mainly in Europe.
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In the last decade, it was discovered that protein mucin-type O-glycosylation and O-GlcNAcylation modify Tyr residues besides the well explored Thr and Ser amino acids. Several glycoproteomic studies have identified α-GalNAc-O-Tyr modifications, and studies propose that β-GlcNAc-O-Tyr also exists as a new group of posttranslational modifications (PTMs). Specific bacterial toxins have further been identified to modify host GTPases with α-GlcNAc-O-Tyr to promote bacterial virulence.

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Clostridioides bacteria are responsible for life threatening infections. Here, we show that in addition to actin, the binary toxins CDT, C2I, and Iota from , , and , respectively, ADP-ribosylate the actin-related protein Arp2 of Arp2/3 complex and its additional components ArpC1, ArpC2, and ArpC4/5. The Arp2/3 complex is composed of seven subunits and stimulates the formation of branched actin filament networks.

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