DNA uptake in naturally competent Vibrio cholerae requires a multi-component import machinery that resembles type IV pili (T4Ps), and it has been proposed that pilus extension and retraction are responsible for pulling DNA across the cell envelope. Blokesch and colleagues now show that the competence protein ComEA, which has a proposed role in DNA uptake in Gram-positive bacteria, is directly involved in DNA uptake in V. cholerae. Fluorescence microscopy experiments showed that ComEA localizes to the periplasm and associates with incoming DNA. The protein contains helix–hairpin–helix motifs, which are widespread in DNA-binding proteins, and their disruption resulted in reduced transformation efficiency. Moreover, ComEA homologues from other bacteria could functionally substitute for V. cholerae ComEA. These data suggest a conserved DNA-uptake mechanism in which T4Ps mediate transfer of the DNA across the outer membrane, followed by pulling of the substrate into the periplasm by ComEA via a Brownian ratchet mechanism.