Cholera Toxins

ADP-ribosylating toxins have been the focus of intensive research for more than 30 years. Researchers from diverse fields of science have taken an interest in these bacterial toxins; they are studied, for example, by microbiologists, biochemists, cell biologists, and pharmacologists. There are two principal reasons for the broad and still growing interest in ADP­ ribosylating toxins. First, insights into the structure and functions of the toxins might be the key to prevention and treatment of diseases caused by the toxin-producing infectious micro­ organisms. Second, the ADP-ribosylating toxins provide potent and often unique pharmacological tools for the study of the physiological functions of their target proteins. The latter is especially the case with cholera and pertussis toxins, which both modify the IX-subunits of heterotrimeric G-proteins involved in signal transduction pathways.

vaccine and vaccination

Although ADP-ribosylation has been known as a post-translational modification of proteins for approximately thirty years, the study of endogenous mono-ADP-ribosylation in animal tissues has remained somewhat of an orphan field during this time.

The book titled “Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases” is divided into two sections A and B.