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Evolutionary Traits of Toxins

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Biological Toxins and Bioterrorism

Part of the book series: Toxinology ((TOXI))

Abstract

Protein toxins produced by bacteria are some of the most potent toxins known to mankind. Most of them utilize certain critical cellular processes of the host to invade and impair other important cellular processes. Different domains of these proteins have a number of homology groups with varying protein structure and functions. Some of them have sequence similarities across all three cellular forms of life – Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya – suggesting a possibility of horizontal gene transfer among these organisms. Considering these traits, the protein toxins provide useful tools to study host–pathogen interactions as well as the biological evolution of species. This chapter emphasizes two aspects of evolution: genomic organization and protein molecular characteristics. Evolution is not only a reflection of change in the characteristic of biological species, but it is also related to diversity at every level, including species, individual organism, and even at the molecular level. Study of evolution in terms of molecular properties such as folding, flexibility, and dynamics provides us with another very unique and necessary dimension to examine molecular and submolecular mechanisms involved in the evolutionary process. Such information can be used to develop countermeasures in the case of protein toxins and perhaps utility of highly evolved toxins as medicines, as in the case for botulinum neurotoxins.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA, USA

    Raj Kumar & Tzuu-Wang Chang

  2. Botulinum Research Center and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth, MA, USA

    Bal Ram Singh

Authors
  1. Raj Kumar
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  2. Tzuu-Wang Chang
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  3. Bal Ram Singh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bal Ram Singh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Venom and Toxin Research Programme, Department of Anatomy, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    P. Gopalakrishnakone

  2. Medical Toxicology Research Centre Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Mahdi Balali-Mood

  3. Data and Technology Innovation, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia

    Lyndon Llewellyn

  4. Botulinum Research Center, Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, MA, USA

    Bal Ram Singh

  5. Prime Bio, Inc., Dartmouth, MA, USA

    Bal Ram Singh

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Kumar, R., Chang, TW., Singh, B.R. (2015). Evolutionary Traits of Toxins. In: Gopalakrishnakone, P., Balali-Mood, M., Llewellyn, L., Singh, B.R. (eds) Biological Toxins and Bioterrorism. Toxinology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5869-8_29

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