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Microbial Toxins pp 1–20Cite as

Clostridium perfringens Epsilon Toxin: Structural and Mechanistic Insights

  • Living reference work entry
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Part of the book series: Toxinology ((TOXI))

Abstract

Epsilon toxin (ETX) is produced by strains of Clostridium perfringens classified as type B or D. ETX belongs to the heptameric β-pore-forming toxins including Aeromonas aerolysin and Clostridium septicum alpha toxin, which are characterized by the formation of a pore through the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells and containing a β-barrel composed of 14 amphipathic β-strands. In contrast to aerolysin and C. septicum alpha toxin, ETX is a much more potent toxin, which is responsible for enterotoxemia in animals, mainly in sheep. ETX induces perivascular edema in various tissues and accumulates particularly in the kidneys and in the brain, where it causes edema and necrotic lesions. ETX is able to pass through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and to stimulate the release of glutamate, which accounts for the nervous excitation symptoms observed in animal enterotoxemia. At the cellular level, ETX causes a rapid swelling followed by a cell death involving necrosis. Recently, ETX has been found to induce demyelination and could be involved in demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis. The precise mode of action of ETX remains undetermined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Pasteur, Bactéries anaérobies et Toxines, 28 rue du docteur Roux, 75725, Paris, Cedex 15, France

    Michel R. Popoff

  2. Biology Department, Wilson College, 1015 Philadelphia Avenue, Chambersburg, PA, 17201, USA

    Bradley Stiles

  3. Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, UPR3212 CNRS, associé à l’Université de Strasbourg, Centre de Neurochimie, 5, rue Blaise Pascal, 67084, Strasbourg, France

    Bernard Poulain

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Correspondence to Michel R. Popoff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    P. Gopalakrishnakone

  2. Biology Department, Wilson College , Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA

    Brad Stiles

  3. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine and Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Faculty of Microbiology, University of Costa Rica , San Pedro de Montes de Oca, Costa Rica

    Alberto Alape-Girón

  4. Département de pathologie et microbiologie, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal , Saint-Hyacinthe, Canada

    J. Daniel Dubreuil

  5. College of Pharmacy, Roseman University of Health Sciences, Henderson, Nevada, USA

    Manas Mandal

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Popoff, M.R., Stiles, B., Poulain, B. (2016). Clostridium perfringens Epsilon Toxin: Structural and Mechanistic Insights. In: Gopalakrishnakone, P., Stiles, B., Alape-Girón, A., Dubreuil, J., Mandal, M. (eds) Microbial Toxins. Toxinology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6725-6_9-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6725-6_9-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6725-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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