Trouble in the Package
Asystole

We met at the microscopic travelling show,
Each with a parcel and a trick to throw.
One wore a ribbon, one wore a membrane—
"Open the label; they're different games."

Exotoxins are proteins with work to do,
Some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bugs make them too.
Released or delivered to cells on the way,
Specific targets can change the day.
Cholera toxin grabs G-s alpha tight,
A-D-P ribosylation keeps its signal alight.
Adenylyl cyclase, cyclic A-M-P high,
Chloride and water enter the lumen nearby.

Exotoxin: protein, a target in its way.
Endotoxin: L-P-S, the danger's lipid A.
A protein can cut a signal; lipid A can raise alarms,
Different kinds of trouble, different kinds of harm.
Read the little label, hear what it can do—
Trouble in the package coming through.

Diphtheria toxin says, "E-F two is mine:
A-D-P ribosylation stops the protein line."
Botulinum cuts SNARE machinery,
Blocks acetylcholine release at the muscle scene.
Flaccid weakness follows the silence there;
Tetanus takes an inhibitory stair.
Blocks GABA and glycine release instead,
Spasms as the motor neurons run ahead.

Read the little label, hear what it can do—
Trouble in the package coming through.

L-P-S sits in a Gram-negative outer coat,
Shed during growth, or released when cells are broke.
Lipid A meets the T-L-R four team,
M-D two helps the host detect the scene.
Cytokines can bring fever in their wake,
Widespread inflammation makes the vessels shake.
Leaky vessels, falling pressure, shock can begin—
The host response can harm the host within.

An A-B toxin has a binding part,
And an active part that does its chemical art.
Some other exotoxins make a membrane pore;
Superantigens link class two and T-cell receptors,
Many clones fire, with a storm of messengers.
Protein toxins have several ways to play—
Endotoxin's inflammatory core is lipid A.

Exotoxin: protein, a target in its way.
Endotoxin: L-P-S, the danger's lipid A.
A protein can cut a signal; lipid A can raise alarms,
Different kinds of trouble, different kinds of harm.
Read the little label, hear what it can do—
Trouble in the package coming through.

The host reads the label and calls for the light.
A different mechanism for each little fight.