title: A highly mobile C-terminal tail of the Escherichia coli protein export chaperone SecB.
abstract: The Escherichia coli export chaperone SecB binds nascent precursors of certain periplasmic and outer membrane proteins and prevents them from folding or aggregating in the cytoplasm. In this study, we demonstrate that the C-terminal 13 residues of SecB were highly mobile using (1)H NMR spectroscopy. A protein lacking the C-terminal 13 amino acids of wild-type SecB was found to retain the ability to bind unfolded maltose-binding protein (MBP) in vitro but to interfere with the normal kinetics of pre-MBP export when overexpressed in vivo. The defect in export was reversed by overproduction of the peripheral membrane ATPase SecA. Therefore, deletion of the mobile region of SecB may alter the interactions of SecB with SecA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Tufts University, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02111, USA.
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Volkert
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Baleja
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kumamoto
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D001692:Biological Transport; D004926:Escherichia coli; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D017510:Protein Folding
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; C057842:SecB protein, Bacteria