Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that produces a wide array of toxins, thus causing various types of disease symptoms. Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs), a family of nine major serological types of heat stable enterotoxins, are a leading cause of gastroenteritis resulting from consumption of contaminated food. In addition, SEs are powerful superantigens that stimulate non-specific T-cell proliferation. SEs share close phylogenetic relationships, with similar structures and activities. Here we review the structure and function of each known enterotoxin.
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Antigens, Bacterial / immunology
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Enterotoxins / chemistry*
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Enterotoxins / classification
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Enterotoxins / isolation & purification
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Food Contamination*
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Gastroenteritis / microbiology
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Phylogeny
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Sequence Alignment
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Staphylococcal Food Poisoning / epidemiology
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Staphylococcal Food Poisoning / etiology*
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Staphylococcus aureus / genetics
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Staphylococcus aureus / immunology
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Staphylococcus aureus / pathogenicity*
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Superantigens / immunology
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T-Lymphocytes / immunology
Substances
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Antigens, Bacterial
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Enterotoxins
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Superantigens