Staphylococcus aureus is an important opportunistic pathogen. It produces a variety of extracellular proteins, which may play important roles in infections by this bacterium. Staphyloccal α-toxin is a pore-forming 33-kDa polypeptide. In the first part of this article, we will refer to the roles of cell membranes in the pore formation by α-toxin as well as the molecular dissection of α-toxin for understanding its pore-forming nature. Staphylococcal γ-hemolysin and leukocidin are bi-component cytolysins, which have different cell specificities towards erythrocytes and leukocytes, respectively. We have found that these bicomponent cytolysins share a common component. In the second part of this article, we will refer to the current status of knowledge of molecular cloning of the genes coding for γ-hemolysin and leukocidin, molecular domains of the toxins which decide the cell specificities, and mode of action of these bi-component toxins.

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