Pore-forming toxins are bacterial poisons that destroy cells by
creating holes in the cell membranes. Many bacterial pathogens produce such
toxins, including, for example, some strains of the intestinal bacterium
Escherichia coli as well as Yersinia enterolitica, a pathogen related to the
plague. They attack all kinds of organisms with the help of their toxins --
from plants to insects, and even humans.
Scientists all over the world are trying to understand how these
toxins produce the fatal openings in cell membranes in hope of one day
inhibiting the pathogenic, pore-forming poisons.
After several years of research, an interdisciplinary team from
the Technical University of Munich managed to elucidate the mode of action of a
toxin subspecies in which two components interact to develop the deadly effect.
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