A biochemical method for tracking cholera toxin transport from plasma membrane to Golgi and endoplasmic reticulum

Methods Mol Biol. 2006:341:127-39. doi: 10.1385/1-59745-113-4:127.

Abstract

Asiatic cholera is a rapidly progressing disease resulting in extreme diarrhea and even death. The causative agent, cholera toxin, is an AB5-subunit enterotoxin produced by the bacterium Vibrio cholera. The toxin must enter the intestinal cell to cause disease. Entry is achieved by the B-subunit binding to a membrane lipid that carries the toxin all the way from the plasma membrane through the trans-Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Once in the ER, a portion of the A-subunit, the A1 chain, unfolds and separates from the B-subunit to retro-translocate to the cytosol. The A1 chain then activates adenylyl cyclase to cause disease. To study this pathway in intact cells, we used a mutant toxin with C-terminal extension of the B-subunit that contains N-glycosylation and tyrosine-sulfation motifs (CT-GS). This provides a biochemical readout for toxin entry into the trans Golgi (by 35S-sulfation) and ER (by N-glycosylation). In this chapter, we describe the methods we developed to study this trafficking pathway.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Blotting, Western
  • COS Cells
  • Chlorocebus aethiops
  • Cholera / metabolism
  • Cholera / pathology
  • Cholera Toxin / metabolism*
  • Cholera Toxin / pharmacology
  • Cytosol / metabolism*
  • Cytosol / pathology
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum / metabolism*
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum / pathology
  • Glycosylation / drug effects
  • Protein Processing, Post-Translational / drug effects
  • Protein Transport / drug effects
  • Vero Cells
  • trans-Golgi Network / metabolism*
  • trans-Golgi Network / pathology

Substances

  • Cholera Toxin