News and Views


Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 9 - 10 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb0107-9

Botulinum neurotoxin B–host receptor recognition: it takes two receptors to tango

Michael R Baldwin1, Jung-Ja P Kim1 & Joseph T Barbieri1

  1. Michael R. Baldwin and Joseph T. Barbieri are in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Jung-Ja P. Kim is in the Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA. e-mail: jtb01@mcw.edu


Two independent crystal structure analyses have resolved the detailed interactions between botulinum neurotoxin serotype B and its neuronal receptor, synaptotagmin. The studies show how the toxin binds synaptotagmin and, along with previously determined interactions with the ganglioside GT1b, a coreceptor, explain the toxin's extreme toxicity and tropism for neurons.

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