Mechanisms and aplications of macromolecule translocation across membranes of eukaryotic cells by bacterial toxins

Toxin translocation across the cytoplasmic membrane of the eukaryotic cell is a potent virulence factor of bacteria causing disease to eukaryotic organisms. Toxins translocate their domains responsible for the toxic activity inside the cell or create pores in cell membrane allowing the transmembrane traffic of ions, DNA, RNA or proteins. Knowledge of the toxin translocation process enables to characterize the mechanism and also the properties of the pore-forming toxin. Some of these toxins have been described in such a detail that were changed using site-directed mutagenesis and can serve as tools for characterization of the translocated molecules. One of such examples is the transfer of nucleotides or the whole nucleic acid molecules across the membrane through the pore of S. aureus α-hemolysine. Nowadays, this application is commercially used for DNA sequencing. Keywords: translocation, bacterial toxins, plasmatic membrane, nanopore sequencin