title: Type III secretion system.
abstract: The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a membrane-embedded nanomachine found in several Gram-negative bacteria. Upon contact between bacteria and host cells, the syringe-like T3SS (Figure 1) transfers proteins termed effectors from the bacterial cytosol to the cytoplasm or the plasma membrane of a single target cell. This is a major difference from secretion systems that merely release molecules into the extracellular milieu, where they act on potentially distant target cells expressing the relevant surface receptors. The syringe architecture is conserved at the structural and functional level and supports injection into a great variety of hosts and tissues. However, the pool of effectors is species specific and determines the outcome of the interaction, via modulation of target-cell function.
authors.affiliation: Inserm U768 and Institut Pasteur, Unité de Pathogénie Microbienne Moléculaire, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France. Electronic address: andrea.puhar@pasteur.fr.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Puhar
authors.affiliation: Inserm U768 and Institut Pasteur, Unité de Pathogénie Microbienne Moléculaire, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: Philippe J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Sansonetti
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D058947:Bacterial Secretion Systems; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D058947:Bacterial Secretion Systems