BoTox Receptor

From Science 28 April 2006:Vol. 312. no. 5773, pp. 592 - 596

Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) is one of seven neurotoxins produced
by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. BoNT/A has a long half-life within
cells and is widely used in treatments of wrinkles to chronic pain.
Moreover, BoNT/A can cause paralysis that persists for months. BoNT/A is
known to block neurotransmission by cleaving the protein SNAP-25 in
presynaptic terminals, but it is not clear how this toxin selectively
recognizes and enters neurons. Dong et al. (p. 592, published online 16
March; see the Perspective by Miller) now identify a protein component of
the cellular receptor for BoNT/A as a synaptic vesicle protein, SV2. BoNT/A
enters neurons via recycling synaptic vesicles by binding to SV2 isoforms,
and cells and animals lacking SV2 are resistant to intoxication.