title: The archaeal twin-arginine translocation pathway.
abstract: The twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway is a system with the unique ability to export proteins in a fully folded conformation. Its main components are TatA, TatB and TatC, all of which are required for Tat-dependent export. The Tat pathway is found in several Archaea, and in most of them a moderate number of predicted Tat-dependent substrates are present. Putative substrates include those binding cofactors such as iron-sulphur clusters and molybdopterin. In these Archaea, the role of the Tat pathway seems to be similar to that of bacteria: the export of a small subset of proteins that fold before translocation across the cytoplasmic membrane. The exception to this is the Tat system of the halophilic archaeon Halobacterium sp. NRC-1. In this organism, the majority of extra-cytoplasmic proteins are predicted to use the Tat pathway, which is, most likely, a specific adaptation to its particular lifestyle in highly saline conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Hutcheon
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bolhuis
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001120:Arginine / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D001692:Biological Transport; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D001120:Arginine