title: What's the point of the type III secretion system needle?
abstract: Recent work by several groups has significantly expanded our knowledge of the structure, regulation of assembly, and function of components of the extracellular portion of the type III secretion system (T3SS) of Gram-negative bacteria. This perspective presents a structure-informed analysis of functional data and discusses three nonmutually exclusive models of how a key aspect of T3SS biology, the sensing of host cells, may be performed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ariel J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Blocker
authors.forename: Janet E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Deane
authors.forename: Andreas K J
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Veenendaal
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roversi
authors.forename: Julie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hodgkinson
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lea
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D012760:Shigella / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins