D. A. Boroff, B. Dasgupta
Apr 25, 1966
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0
Influential Citations
13
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Quality indicators
Journal
Biochimica et biophysica acta
Abstract
Abstract 2-Hydroxy-5-nitrobenzyl bromide, when reacted with the toxin of Clostridium botulinum Type A, reduced toxicity by 99% and modified 17.8 moles out of 77.2 moles of tryptophan reduced in the toxin. This treatment resulted also in the loss of the ability of the toxin to stimulate protective antibidy formation in rabbits by destroying an antigenic determinant responsible for the formation of neutralizing anti-body in the native toxin. This evidence, in addition to the results obtained by photo-oxidation of the toxin 5 , further supports the thesis previously advanced as to the critical role of tryptophan residues in the toxin's reactive sites. 2-Hydroxy-5-nitro-benzyl substitution method yielded data consistent with the estimated number of active tryptophan residues obtained from photooxidation reaction kinetics.