15. Bacterial protein secretion and assembly of surface structures Flashcards
What are most bacterial protein secretion systems important in?
Pathogenesis
Why is secretion/transport of molecules so important for bacteria?
- To cause disease bacteria must interact with their host and they use molecules to do this.
- They sense their host’s physiological cues.
- They need to deliver bioactive molecules (toxins or effector) to host cell/tissues.
- They do this by making a structure that secretes or delivers molecules to host tissues/cells.
How are bacterial effector molecules transported from the cytoplasm?
- They are transported through the membrane.
- This is more complicated in gram negative bacteria due to its membrane complexity.
- Some proteins integrate into the membranes and these have important roles in pathogenesis and toxicity.
What proteins are integrated into the membrane but are not integral to it?
- Proteins that have functions important for pathogenesis.
- An example of these are secretion systems.
What secretion systems do gram positive bacteria use?
- Sec
- Tat
What do gram-negative bacteria secretion systems have to do?
- As their membranes are more complex so are their secretion systems.
- The 2 membranes have to be linked to transport proteins through both.
- This needs to be synchronised.
What secretion systems do gram-negative bacteria use?
- They use Sec and Tat linked to other secretion systems.
- They use 2 step secretion systems like type 5.
- They use 1-step secretion systems like type 3.
What are 2-step gram negative secretion systems?
- They use Sec and Tat to transport things across the inner membrane.
- They then use secretion systems to transport proteins across the outer membrane.
- Examples are type 1, 2, and 5 which secrete proteins like proteases.
What are 1-step gram negative secretion systems?
- They transport proteins from the bacterial cytoplasm directly to the host cell cytoplasm.
- They are big structures made up of lots of proteins.
- The effect molecules have no contact with the external space.
- Examples are type 3, 4 and 6 secretion systems.
How does protein secretion work in Gram-Positive Bacteria?
- Secretion systems used by pathogenic bacteria are essential for their virulence.
- These secrete toxins and adhesins and other virulence factors.
- Use 3 main pathways.
- The general secretory pathway or Sec.
- The Twin-arginine translocation pathway or Tat.
- The ATP-binding cassette transporter
Where is the Sec pathway found?
- It is ubiquitous and essential for life.
- It is used by both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
- It is found in all 3 domains of life: bacteria, archaea and
eukaryotes. - It is also found in eukaryotic organelles for transport across organelle membranes.
What does Sec-dependent secretion require?
- Proteins require a signal/leader peptide sequence to be secreted.
- This guides them and allows them to be translocated across the cytoplasmic membrane.
- The proteins have to be unfolded.
- Transport requires hydrolysis of ATP.
- The signal peptide needs to be removed once it is secreted.
What is the mechanism of the Sec pathway?
- The pre-protein with the signal sequence is targeted to the cytoplasmic membrane.
- This is aided by the export chaperone SecB.
- SecB leads the pre-protein to SecA on the inside of the membrane.
- SecA is an ATPase.
- Every time an ATP is hydrolysed the pre-protein is pushed ~20 amino acids into the SecYEG channel.
- Once the pre-protein has been translocated across the membrane, the signal peptide is cleaved.
- This is done by the type 1 signal peptidase, possibly SecDF.
- Then the bacteria is folded by other secreted proteins.
Why is the chaperone needed in the Sec pathway?
Due to pre-proteins being unstable as they are not folded.
Where is the Tat pathway found?
- It is not as widespread as Sec.
- It is in many bacterial and archaeal organisms.
- It is also in plant cell thylakoid membranes (chloroplasts).
What proteins does Sec transport?
Unfolded proteins
What proteins does Tat transport?
Folded proteins
What drives Sec?
ATP hydrolysis
What drives Tat?
The proton motive force.
What does the Tat secretion system require?
- Folded proteins
- Proton motif force
- A signal peptide
- A signal motif within the protein
What signals guide peptides to the Tat pathway?
- There is the 40 amino acids signal peptide.
- The proteins also contain a motif specific for Tat transport.
- This sequence is serine or theronine/arginine-arginine/x/phenylalanine/leucine/lysine.
What is the mechanism of the Tat pathway?
- Before export, Tat exported proteins are folded into their conformation.
- They contain N-terminal signal sequence with the twin arginine motif.
- The folded pre-protein is recognised by the TatB and TatC complex.
- This complex delivers the pre-protein to TatA.
- TatA is the channel in the membrane that translocates the proteins across the membrane.
- After export, the signal sequence is removed by signal peptidase.
What is the difference between SecYEG and TatA?
TatA is a bigger channel than SecYEG as it transports folded proteins, which are bulkier than unfolded proteins.
What are the similarities between Sec and Tat?
- Both are highly conserved
- Both use pre-proteins with signal peptides.
- Signal peptides are cleaved on export.