title: Detecting envelope stress by monitoring β-barrel assembly.
abstract: The cell envelope protects bacteria from their surroundings. Defects in its integrity or assembly are sensed by signal transduction systems, allowing cells to rapidly adjust. The Rcs phosphorelay responds to outer membrane (OM)- and peptidoglycan-related stress in enterobacteria. We elucidated how the OM lipoprotein RcsF, the upstream Rcs component, senses envelope stress and activates the signaling cascade. RcsF interacts with BamA, the major component of the β-barrel assembly machinery. In growing cells, BamA continuously funnels RcsF through the β-barrel OmpA, displaying RcsF on the cell surface. This process spatially separates RcsF from the downstream Rcs component, which we show is the inner membrane protein IgaA. The Rcs system is activated when BamA fails to bind RcsF and funnel it to OmpA. Newly synthesized RcsF then remains periplasmic, interacting with IgaA to activate the cascade. Thus RcsF senses envelope damage by monitoring the activity of the Bam machinery.
authors.affiliation: WELBIO, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium; de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Seung-Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: WELBIO, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium; de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Szewczyk
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pesavento
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Matylda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zietek
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banzhaf
authors.affiliation: WELBIO, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium; de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roszczenko
authors.affiliation: WELBIO, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium; de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Abir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asmar
authors.affiliation: de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Géraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Laloux
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ann-Kristin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hov
authors.affiliation: de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leverrier
authors.affiliation: WELBIO, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium; de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van der Henst
authors.affiliation: de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vertommen
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: typas@embl.de.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Typas
authors.affiliation: WELBIO, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium; de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, Brussels 1200, Belgium. Electronic address: jfcollet@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Collet
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C078611:rcsF protein, E coli; C078167:OMPA outer membrane proteins