Interaction of tetanus toxin with lipid vesicles at low pH. Protection of specific polypeptides against proteolysis.

Two main polypeptides, Mr about 27,000 and 21,000, were protected against pepsin proteolysis when a mixture consisting of asolectin vesicles and 125I-labeled tetanus toxin was subjected to a pH drop from 7.2 to 3.0. The same result was obtained with the amino-terminal portion of the toxin (called fragment B). These polypeptides were not found to be protected in the following conditions: (i) when vesicles were omitted from the mixture; (ii) when the external pH of the vesicles was maintained at 7.2 and trypsin was used as a proteolytic agent; and (iii) when the vesicles were ruptured either before or after addition of the toxin. By specific immunoprecipitation, we identified the protected polypeptides as part of the central fragment of tetanus toxin. In addition, a 15.5-kDa polypeptide, belonging to toxin fragment C, was shown to be particularly resistant to digestion by various proteases, even in the absence of lipid vesicles. Based on these findings, we propose a model for entry of tetanus toxin into its target cells.