title: Requirement of the SecB chaperone for export of a non-secretory polypeptide in Escherichia coli.
abstract: The SecB protein of Escherichia coli is a cytosolic component of the export machinery which can prevent some precursors from prematurely folding into export-incompatible conformations by binding to the newly synthesised polypeptide. The feature(s) of target proteins recognised by SecB, however, are unclear and have been a matter of controversy. Also, it has not been asked if binding of SecB is specific for secretory proteins. We demonstrate here that a non-secretory polypeptide, a fragment of a tail fiber protein of phage T4, fused to the signal peptide of the outer membrane protein OmpA has a very strong SecB requirement for export and that the signal peptide itself cannot, at least not alone, be responsible for this action of SecB. The data reported, together with those of the literature, suggest that SecB recognizes the polypeptide backbone of the target protein.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, Tübingen, FRG.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: MacIntyre
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mutschler
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Henning
mesh_terms: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D011487:Protein Conformation; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals / Q000378:metabolism; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013604:T-Phages / Q000378:metabolism; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017376:Viral Tail Proteins
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C057842:SecB protein, Bacteria; D014764:Viral Proteins; D017376:Viral Tail Proteins