The carboxy-terminal region of haemolysin 2001 is required for secretion of the toxin from Escherichia coli.
As a first step in the detailed analysis of the mechanism of secretion of haemolysin, we sought to identify sequences or domains within haemolysin A (HlyA) that are essential for its secretion. For this purpose we examined the properties of a deletion and Tn5 insertions into the region of the HlyA gene encoding the C-terminal part of the protein, since both of these are relatively simple to generate. We showed that removal of 27 amino acids from the C-terminus of HlyA is sufficient to inhibit secretion drastically, although the residual polypeptide is still haemolytically active. Cellular fractionation studies showed that haemolytic activity does not accumulate in large amounts within the periplasmic space during normal secretion. More significantly, activity does not appear to accumulate within this compartment when the export functions hlyB and hlyD are removed. These results are consistent with a mechanism in which interaction of the C-terminus of HlyA with the secretion machinery, located in the inner membrane, is followed by direct transfer of haemolysin to the medium.
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005796:Genes; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D006461:Hemolysis; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000633:toxicity; D010957:Plasmids; D012756:Sheep
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C036507:Hlya protein, E coli; D010446:Peptide Fragments