In vivo experiments do not support the charge zipper model for Tat translocase assembly
- University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Abstract
The twin-arginine translocase (Tat) transports folded proteins across the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane and the plant thylakoid membrane. The Tat translocation site is formed by substrate-triggered oligomerization of the protein TatA. Walther and co-workers have proposed a structural model for the TatA oligomer in which TatA monomers self-assemble using electrostatic ‘charge zippers’ (Cell (2013) 132:15945). This model was supported by in vitro analysis of the oligomeric state of TatA variants containing charge-inverting substitutions. Here we have used live cell assays of TatA assembly and function in Escherichia coli to re-assess the roles of the charged residues of TatA. Our results do not support the charge zipper model. Instead, we observe that substitutions of charged residues located in the amphipathic helix lock TatA in an assembled state, suggesting that these charged residues play a critical role in the protein translocation step that follows TatA assembly.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Wellcome (Investigator Award 107929/Z/15/Z)
- Ben C Berks
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/L002531/1)
- Ben C Berks
European Commission (Erasmus Trainee Scheme)
- Merel PM Damen
Microbiology Society (Harry Smith Vacation Studentship VS15/10)
- Jesper Levring
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2017, Alcock et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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In vivo experiments do not support the charge zipper model for Tat translocase assembly
eLife 6:e30127.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30127
