Summary: Researchers have identified an active botulinum neurotoxin in a non-Clostridium bacterium, a discovery that could expand both pathogen monitoring and the development of new protein therapeutics.
Source: University of Waterloo.
Canadian and American researchers have discovered a previously unrecognized source of an active botulinum neurotoxin in Enterococcus faecium, a species of gut bacteria. This neurotoxin family is well known both for causing botulism, a potentially deadly form of food poisoning, and for its therapeutic uses in controlled doses—most famously as Botox for cosmetic wrinkle reduction and increasingly for medical conditions such as chronic migraine, overactive bladder, hyperhidrosis, and certain cardiac indications.
The finding marks the first reported identification of an active botulinum toxin gene outside the Clostridium group of bacteria. “This is the first time that an active botulinum toxin has been identified outside of Clostridium botulinum and its relatives, which are often found in soil and untreated water,” said Andrew Doxey, a corresponding author of the study and a professor of bioinformatics at the University of Waterloo. He emphasized that the discovery could shift how scientists monitor emerging bacterial threats and how they search for novel protein-based therapeutics.
The research team included collaborators from Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital. The work originated as an investigation into the genetic origins of antibiotic resistance in Enterococcus faecium. As part of that study, researchers sequenced the genome of an E. faecium strain obtained from cow feces. Using computational pipelines and bioinformatics tools developed in Doxey’s laboratory, they scanned the bacterial genome for genes of interest and unexpectedly identified a gene encoding a botulinum neurotoxin.
Genomic analysis suggested that the toxin gene was not native to Enterococcus faecium but was likely acquired through horizontal gene transfer, presumably from Clostridium botulinum bacteria in the environment into the cow’s gut microbiome. This observation demonstrates that genes encoding powerful neurotoxins can move between distantly related bacterial species in natural settings, raising questions about the ecological dynamics of toxin genes and the potential for unexpected reservoirs of medically relevant proteins.
Michael Mansfield, a doctoral candidate in the Doxey Lab and one of the study’s lead authors, commented on the therapeutic implications: “The botulinum toxin is a powerful and versatile protein therapeutic. By finding more versions of the toxin in nature, we can potentially expand and optimize its therapeutic applications even further.” The discovery could therefore have dual importance: informing public health surveillance for toxin-producing organisms while also guiding researchers who aim to engineer or adapt toxin proteins for safer or more targeted medical use.
Beyond immediate implications, the finding underscores the value of unbiased genomic surveillance and computational screening of bacterial genomes. Routine sequencing and careful bioinformatic analysis can reveal unexpected genes with high relevance to human health and medicine. Identifying such genes in diverse microbial hosts helps scientists understand how functionally important traits, including virulence factors and therapeutic proteins, circulate through microbial communities.
While the presence of a toxin gene in one strain of E. faecium does not necessarily indicate widespread risk, the study highlights the need for comprehensive genomic monitoring of commensal and environmental bacteria. Such monitoring can detect novel occurrences of clinically significant genes and inform risk assessments. At the same time, new natural variants of known proteins like botulinum neurotoxins may serve as starting points for the design of improved or specialized protein therapeutics under controlled research and regulatory frameworks.
Source: Matthew Grant – University of Waterloo
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image credited to University of Waterloo.
Original Research: The study will appear in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.
MLA: University of Waterloo. “New Type of Botox Identified.” NeuroscienceNews. 26 January 2018.
APA: University of Waterloo (2018, January 26). New Type of Botox Identified. NeuroscienceNews.
Chicago: University of Waterloo. “New Type of Botox Identified.” NeuroscienceNews. Accessed January 26, 2018.