Type III secretion: a secretory pathway serving both motility and virulence (review).
'Type III secretion' (T3S) refers to a secretion pathway that is common to the flagellae of eubacteria and the injectisomes of some gram-negative bacteria. Flagellae are rotary nanomachines allowing motility but they contain a built-in secretion apparatus that exports their own distal components to the distal end of the growing structure where they polymerize. In some cases they have been shown to export non-flagellar proteins. Injectisomes are transkingdom communication apparatuses allowing bacteria docked at the surface of a eukaryotic cell membrane to inject effector proteins across the two bacterial membranes and the eukaryotic cell membrane. Both nanomachines share a similar basal body embedded in the two bacterial membranes, topped either by a hook and a filament or by a stiff short needle. Both appear to be assembled in the same fashion. They recognize their substrate by a loose N-terminal peptide signal and the help of individual chaperones of a new type.
Journet
Laure
L
Biozentrum der Universität Basel, Switzerland. Laure.Journet@esbs.u-strasbg.fr
Hughes
Kelly T
KT
Cornelis
Guy R
GR
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D005407:Flagella / Q000502:physiology*; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D021381:Protein Transport; D014774:Virulence
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins