Index >> Infection and Disease >> Cytotoxins

Cytotoxins - They kill cells by enzymatic attack or by blocking essential cell metabolism. They include the proteins that cause lysis of blood cells and those which interfere with protein synthesis. For example, diphtheria toxin of Corynebacterium diphtheriae inhibits protein synthesis in mammalian cells.

It affects cardiac and renal tissues. This toxin blocks transferase reactions during translation of mRNA. This is interesting to know that only phage infected cells (lysogenised cells) of the bacterium produce toxin ( the phage converts nonpathogenic cells to pathogenic ). The protein toxin is coded for by the phage genome