Molecular characterization of the protease from Clostridium botulinum serotype C responsible for nicking in botulinum neurotoxin complex

A protease was purified from the culture medium of Clostridium botulinum serotype C strain Stockholm (C-St). The purified protease belonged to the cysteine protease family based on assays for enzyme inhibitors, activators and kinetic parameters. The protease formed a binary complex consisting of 41- and 17-kDa proteins held together non-covalently. The DNA sequence encoding the protease gene was shown to be a single open reading frame of 1593 nucleotides, predicting 530 amino acid residues including a signal peptide. The N-terminal region of the native enzyme underwent further proteolytic modification after processing by a signal peptidase. The protease introduced intermolecular cleavage into an intact single chain botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) at a specific site. Homology modeling and docking simulation of C-St BoNT and C-St protease demonstrated that the specific nicking-site of the BoNT appears to fit into the deep pocket in the active site of the protease.