Membrane permeabilization induced by cytolytic delta-endotoxin CytA from Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis

CytA is a member of a functionally defined family of insecticidal delta-endotoxins occurring in parasporal crystals of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis. We investigated the ability of CytA to permeabilize the membrane and release fluorescence marker molecules from unilamellar lipid vesicles. Both protoxin (27 kDa) and proteolytically activated toxin (24 kDa) were very effective in permeabilization of unilamellar lipid vesicles: concentrations as low as several nanomolar produced a significant effect. The toxin was about 2-3 times more effective than the protoxin. The concentration of CytA required for the same extent of calcein release in large unilamellar vesicles (LUV) was 5-10 times lower than that in small unilamellar vesicles (SUV). Both small (calcein) and large (fluorescein-dextrans, MW 3000 and 10 000) molecules were released from the vesicles by CytA with comparable single-exponential kinetics. The release was an all-or-none event, i.e., each vesicle either released all of its contents or remained completely intact. Binding of CytA to lipid membranes did not show appreciable cooperativity, the apparent binding constant (K-app) being on the order of 10(5) M(-1). The plots of kinetics of release vs bound protein/lipid ratio and the differential effects of CytA on LUV vs SUV indicate that at least 140 toxin molecules or 311 protoxin molecules must bind to an LUV before the latter starts losing its integrity. The necessity of adsorption of this relatively large number of toxin molecules to trigger permeabilization, together with the lack of discrimination in the size of the released marker molecules, suggests that the effect of CytA is a general, detergent-like, perturbation of the membrane rather than creation of small, well-defined, proteinaceous channels.