Seeing a neurotoxin's deadly grip

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Botulinum neurotoxin hijacks synaptic vesicle recycling at neuromuscular junctions. The toxin first docks to the active zone (blue) by binding to two membrane-anchored receptors synaptotagmin (red) and ganglioside (yellow). The toxin-receptor complex ...
Botulinum neurotoxin hijacks synaptic vesicle recycling at neuromuscular junctions. The toxin first docks to the active zone (blue) by binding to two membrane-anchored receptors, synaptotagmin (red) and ganglioside (yellow). The toxin-receptor complexes are then internalized by endocytosis. Credit: Courtesy of Axel Brunger/HHMI at Stanford University

Two Howard Hughes Medical Institute research teams working independently have discovered new information about how the botulinum neurotoxin shuts down neurons with deadly efficiency. By providing detailed views of the toxin plugged into its neuronal receptor, the new studies could aid efforts to engineer specialized versions of the powerful neurotoxin that is used to treat a wide array of medical problems.


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