Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT)

A toxin inhibiting neurotransmitter release

General Information

The neurotoxins of Clostridium botulinum BoNTs belong to the most potent protein toxins. These Zinc proteases elicit paralysis by cleaving SNARE proteins like SNAP 25, Syntaxin 1 and Synaptobrevin which mediate the fusion of synaptic vesicles with the presynaptic membrane.
There are seven known serotypes of BoNTs (A to G) with different cleavage properties. BoNTs are translated as ~150 kDa single-chain, non-toxic precursor proteins which are cleaved into a catalytic light chain (LC) and a heavy translocation chain (HCT).