Partial Purification and Characterization of Biological Effects of a Lipid Toxin Produced byMycobacterium ulcerans

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Abstract
Organisms in the genusMycobacteriumcause a variety of human diseases. One member of the genus,M. ulcerans, causes a necrotizing skin disease called Buruli ulcer. Buruli ulcer is unique among mycobacterial diseases in that the organisms at the site of infection are extracellular and there is little acute inflammatory response. Previous literature reported the presence of a toxin in the culture supernatant ofM. ulceranswhich causes a cytopathic effect on the mouse fibroblast cell line L929 in which the adherent cells round up and detach from the tissue culture plate. Here we report partial purification of a lipid toxin from the culture supernatant ofM. ulceranswhich is capable of causing the cytopathic effect on L929 cells. We also show that this cytopathic effect is a result of cytoskeletal rearrangement. TheM. ulceranstoxin does not cause cell death but instead arrests cells in the G1phase of the cell cycle.