AUTHOR=Michalska Marta , Wolf Philipp 

TITLE=Pseudomonas Exotoxin A: optimized by evolution for effective killing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00963

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2015.00963

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Pseudomonas</italic> Exotoxin A (PE) is the most toxic virulence factor of the pathogenic bacterium <italic>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</italic>. This review describes current knowledge about the intoxication pathways of PE. Moreover, PE represents a remarkable example for pathoadaptive evolution, how bacterial molecules have been structurally and functionally optimized under evolutionary pressure to effectively impair and kill their host cells.</p>