Editing Shiga toxin (section)

==History==
The toxin is named after [[Kiyoshi Shiga]], who discovered ''S. dysenteriae'' in 1897.<ref name=shiga-nom/> In 1977, researchers in [[Ottawa, Ontario]] discovered the Shiga toxin normally produced by ''[[Shigella dysenteriae]]'' in a line of ''E. coli''.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Konowalchuk J, Speirs JI, Stavric S | title = Vero response to a cytotoxin of Escherichia coli | journal = Infection and Immunity | volume = 18 | issue = 3 | pages = 775–9 | date = December 1977 | doi = 10.1128/IAI.18.3.775-779.1977 | pmid = 338490 | pmc = 421302 }}</ref> The ''E. coli'' version of the toxin was named "verotoxin" because of its ability to kill [[Vero cell|''Vero'' cells]] ([[Chlorocebus|African green monkey]] [[kidney]] cells) in culture.  Shortly after, the verotoxin was referred to as Shiga-like toxin because of its similarities to Shiga toxin.

It has been suggested by some researchers that the gene coding for Shiga-like toxin comes from a toxin-converting lambdoid [[bacteriophage]], such as H-19B or 933W, inserted into the [[bacteria|bacteria's]] [[chromosome]] via [[transduction (genetics)|transduction]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Mizutani S, Nakazono N, Sugino Y | title = The so-called chromosomal verotoxin genes are actually carried by defective prophages | journal = DNA Research | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 141–3 | date = April 1999 | pmid = 10382973 | doi = 10.1093/dnares/6.2.141 | doi-access = free }}</ref> [[Phylogenetic]] studies of the [[Escherichia coli#Diversity|diversity of ''E. coli'']] suggest that it may have been relatively easy for Shiga toxin to transduce into certain strains of  ''E. coli'', because ''[[Shigella]]'' is itself a [[subgenus]] of ''[[Escherichia]]''; in fact, some strains traditionally considered ''E. coli'' (including those that produce this toxin) in fact belong to this lineage. Being closer relatives of ''Shigella dysenteriae'' than of the [[type strain|typical]] ''E. coli'', it is not at all unusual that toxins similar to that of ''S. dysenteriae'' are produced by these strains. As microbiology advances, the historical variation in nomenclature (which arose because of gradually advancing science in multiple places) is increasingly giving way to recognizing all of these molecules as "versions of the same toxin" rather than "different toxins".<ref name="Silva_et_al_2017">{{Citation |last1=Silva |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Brandon |first2=David L. |last3=Skinner |first3=Craig B. |last4=He |first4=Xiaohua |display-authors=etal | name-list-style = vanc |year=2017 |title=Shiga toxins: A Review of Structure, Mechanism, and Detection |chapter=Chapter 3: Structure of Shiga toxins and other AB5 toxins |publisher=Springer|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKQ7DgAAQBAJ&q=%22verocytotoxin+VCT%22&pg=PA22 |isbn=978-3319505800 |postscript=.}}</ref>{{rp|2–3}}