Delta endotoxin

Delta endotoxins are insecticidal toxins produced by Bacillus species of bacteria.

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During spore formation the bacteria produce crystals of this protein. When an insect ingests these proteins, they are activated by proteolytic cleavage. The N-terminus is cleaved in all of the proteins and a C-terminal extension is cleaved in some members. Once activated, the endotoxin binds to the gut epithelium and causes cell lysis by the formation of cation-selective channels, which leads to death. The activated region of the delta toxin is composed of three distinct structural domains: an N-terminal helical bundle domain (IPR005639) involved in membrane insertion and pore formation; a beta-sheet central domain involved in receptor binding; and a C-terminal beta-sandwich domain (IPR005638) that interacts with the N-terminal domain to form a channel^[1][2].

References

This article includes text from the public domain Pfam and InterPro IPR015790