@article {1302190,
	title = {Identification of a Botulinum Neurotoxin-like Toxin in a Commensal Strain of Enterococcus faecium},
	journal = {Cell Host Microbe},
	volume = {23},
	number = {2},
	year = {2018},
	month = {2018 Feb 14},
	pages = {169-176.e6},
	abstract = {Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs), produced by various Clostridium strains, are a family of potent bacterial toxins and potential bioterrorism agents. Here we report that an Enterococcus faecium strain isolated from cow feces carries a BoNT-like toxin, designated BoNT/En. It cleaves both VAMP2 and SNAP-25, proteins that mediate synaptic vesicle exocytosis in neurons, at sites distinct from known BoNT\&nbsp;cleavage sites on these two proteins. Comparative genomic analysis determines that the E.\&nbsp;faecium strain carrying BoNT/En is a commensal type and that the BoNT/En gene is located within a typical BoNT gene cluster on a 206 kb putatively conjugative plasmid. Although the host species targeted by BoNT/En remains to be determined, these findings establish an extended member of BoNTs and demonstrate the capability of E.\&nbsp;faecium, a commensal organism ubiquitous in humans and animals and a leading cause of hospital-acquired multi-drug-resistant (MDR) infections, to horizontally acquire, and possibly disseminate, a unique BoNT gene cluster.},
	issn = {1934-6069},
	doi = {10.1016/j.chom.2017.12.018},
	author = {Zhang, Sicai and Lebreton, Francois and Mansfield, Michael J and Miyashita, Shin-Ichiro and Zhang, Jie and Schwartzman, Julia A and Tao, Liang and Masuyer, Geoffrey and Mart{\'\i}nez-Carranza, Markel and Stenmark, P{\r a}l and Gilmore, Michael S and Doxey, Andrew C and Dong, Min}
}
