title: Critical regions of secM that control its translation and secretion and promote secretion-specific secA regulation.
abstract: SecA is an essential ATP-driven motor protein that binds to presecretory or membrane proteins and the translocon and promotes the translocation or membrane integration of these proteins. secA is subject to a protein secretion-specific form of regulation, whereby its translation is elevated during secretion-limiting conditions. A novel mechanism that promotes this regulation involves translational pausing within the gene upstream of secA, secM. The secM translational pause prevents formation of an RNA helix that normally blocks secA translational initiation. The duration of this pause is controlled by the rate of secretion of nascent SecM, which in turn depends on its signal peptide and a functional translocon. We characterized the atypical secM signal peptide and found that mutations within the amino-terminal region specifically affect the secM translational pause and secA regulation, while mutations in the hydrophobic core region affect SecM secretion as well as translational pausing and secA regulation. In addition, mutational analysis of the 3' end of secM allowed us to identify a conserved region that is required to promote the translational pause that appears to be operative at the peptide level. Together, our results provide direct support for the secM translational pause model of secA regulation, and they pinpoint key sequences within secM that promote this important regulatory system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459, USA.
authors.forename: Shameema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarker
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oliver
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D000069816:SEC Translocation Channels; D000081416:SecA Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D000069816:SEC Translocation Channels; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D000081416:SecA Proteins