A circular-dichroism study of epidermolytic toxins A and B from Staphylococcus aureus.

The far-u.v. circular-dichroism spectra of the two epidermolytic toxins was analysed into fractional contributions of 0.09 helix and 0.46 beta-sheet to each toxin structure. Trifluoroethanol perturbation caused an initial increase in dichroic absorption at 205 nm and then a change characterized as a beta-sheet-to-alpha-helix transition. The intense near-u.v. spectra suggested that the toxins have unusually rigid, though different, aromatic-side-chain arrangements.