In the field of molecular biology, enterotoxin type B, also known as Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), is an enterotoxin produced by the gram-positivebacteriaStaphylococcus aureus. It is a common cause of food poisoning, with severe diarrhea, nausea and intestinal cramping often starting within a few hours of ingestion.[1] Being quite stable,[2] the toxin may remain active even after the contaminating bacteria are killed. It can withstand boiling at 100 °C for a few minutes.[1]Gastroenteritis occurs because SEB is a superantigen, causing the immune system to release a large amount of cytokines that lead to significant inflammation.
Additionally, this protein is one of the causative agents of toxic shock syndrome.
All of these toxins share a similar two-domain fold (N and C-terminal domains) with a long alpha-helix in the middle of the molecule, a characteristic beta-barrel known as the "oligosaccharide/oligonucleotide fold" at the N-terminal domain and a beta-grasp motif at the C-terminal domain. Each superantigen possesses slightly different binding mode(s) when it interacts with MHC class II molecules or the T-cell receptor.[4]
N-terminal domain
The N-terminal domain is also referred to as OB-fold, or in other words the oligonuclucleotide binding fold. This region contains a low-affinity major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC II) site which causes an inflammatory response.[5]
The N-terminal domain contains regions involved in Major Histocompatibility Complex class II association. It is a five stranded beta barrel that forms an OB fold.[6][7][8]
C-terminal domain
The beta-grasp domain has some structural similarities to the beta-grasp motif present in immunoglobulin-binding domains, ubiquitin, 2Fe-2 S ferredoxin and translation initiation factor 3 as identified by the SCOP database.
^Nema V, Agrawal R, Kamboj DV, Goel AK, Singh L (June 2007). "Isolation and characterization of heat resistant enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus from a food poisoning outbreak in Indian subcontinent". Int. J. Food Microbiol. 117 (1): 29–35. doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2007.01.015. PMID17477998.
^Acharya KR, Papageorgiou AC, Tranter HS (1998). "Crystal structure of microbial superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B at 1.5 A resolution: implications for superantigen recognition by MHC class II molecules and T-cell receptors". J. Mol. Biol. 277 (1): 61–79. doi:10.1006/jmbi.1997.1577. PMID9514739.