Physicochemical and biological properties of purified Escherichia coli Shiga-like toxin II variant.

Purified Escherichia coli Shiga-like toxin II variant (SLT-IIv) was characterized with regard to selected physical, chemical, and biological properties. N-terminal amino acid sequencing confirmed the identities of 33,000-, 27,500-, and 7,500-molecular-weight (MW) bands seen on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of purified SLT-IIv as the A subunit, A1 fragment, and B subunit, respectively. The arginine-serine bond between amino acids 247 and 248 in the A subunit was determined to be the site for proteolytic cleavage into A1 and A2 fragments. As with other SLTs, gel filtration chromatography of SLT-IIv gave estimates of the MW of holotoxin that were variable and less than predicted for a 1-A-subunit-5-B-subunit configuration. The MWs were estimated to be 40,000 and 43,000 by Sephacryl S-100 and Sephadex G-100 and less than 2,000 by Bio-Sil Sec-250 gel filtration chromatography. The isoelectric point of SLT-IIv holotoxin was 9.0. Cytotoxicity of SLT-IIv was destroyed by heating at 65 degrees C for 30 min and by incubation with 2-mercaptoethanol and dithiothreitol, but it increased 30-fold by incubation with trypsin, chymotrypsin, or pepsin and 2-fold by incubation with thermolysin. SLT-IIv cytotoxic activity was stable at neutral and alkaline pH values but was lost at pHs 3, 4, and 5. SLT-IIv was stable in fluid from the anterior and posterior small intestines of pigs but was not enterotoxic in pig intestinal loops. The smallest doses of SLT-IIv that inhibited protein synthesis in porcine endothelial cells and Vero cells were 0.1 ng and 0.1 fg, respectively.