Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28228551›Full record

ArticleMolecular biology of the cell2017

Cysteine residues in a yeast viral A/B toxin crucially control host cell killing via pH-triggered disulfide rearrangements.

Yutaka Suzuki, Sara L Schwartz, Nina C Mueller, Manfred J Schmitt

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular biology of the cell, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. ThemBio · 2025
    Article
  5. A Comprehensive Structural and Functional Analysis ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  6. The KillerMicroorganisms · 2024
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Yutaka SuzukiMolecular and Cell Biology, Department of Biosciences, and Center of Human and Molecular Biology (ZHMB), Saarland University, D-66123 Saarbruecken, Germany.
Sara L SchwartzMolecular and Cell Biology, Department of Biosciences, and Center of Human and Molecular Biology (ZHMB), Saarland University, D-66123 Saarbruecken, Germany.
Nina C MuellerMolecular and Cell Biology, Department of Biosciences, and Center of Human and Molecular Biology (ZHMB), Saarland University, D-66123 Saarbruecken, Germany.
Manfred J SchmittMolecular and Cell Biology, Department of Biosciences, and Center of Human and Molecular Biology (ZHMB), Saarland University, D-66123 Saarbruecken, Germany mjs@microbiol.uni-sb.de.
Carnegie Mellon University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

K28 is a viral A/B protein toxin that intoxicates yeast and fungal cells by endocytosis and retrograde transport to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Although toxin translocation into the cytosol occurs on the oxidized α/β heterodimer, the precise mechanism of how the toxin crosses the ER membrane is unknown. Here we identify pH-triggered, toxin-intrinsic thiol rearrangements that crucially control toxin conformation and host cell killing. In the natural habitat and low-pH environment of toxin-secreting killer yeasts, K28 is structurally stable and biologically active as a disulfide-bonded heterodimer, whereas it forms inactive disulfide-bonded oligomers at neutral pH that are caused by activation and thiol deprotonation of β-subunit cysteines. Because such pH increase reflects the pH gradient during compartmental transport within target cells, potential K28 oligomerization in the ER lumen is prevented by protein disulfide isomerase. In addition, we show that pH-triggered thiol rearrangements in K28 can cause the release of cytotoxic α monomers, suggesting a toxin-intrinsic mechanism of disulfide bond reduction and α/β heterodimer dissociation in the cytosol.

Indexed as

Biological TransportCysteineCytosolDisulfidesEndocytosisEndoplasmic ReticulumHydrogen-Ion ConcentrationKiller Factors, YeastProtein Disulfide-IsomerasesProtein FoldingProtein Processing, Post-TranslationalProtein TransportSaccharomyces cerevisiaeSaccharomyces cerevisiae ProteinsCysteineDisulfidesKiller Factors, YeastProtein Disulfide-IsomerasesSaccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

Identifiers

PMID28228551
PMCPMC5391188
OpenAlexW2589809338

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.