Article
- The EMBO Journal (2006) 25, 3223 - 3233
- doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601202
Published online: 22 June 2006
Subject Category:
The discovery of SycO highlights a new function for type III secretion effector chaperones
Michel Letzelter1, Isabel Sorg1, Luís Jaime Mota1,a, Salome Meyer1, Jacqueline Stalder1, Mario Feldman1,b, Marina Kuhn1, Isabelle Callebaut2 and Guy R Cornelis1
- Biozentrum der Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- Département de Biologie Structurale, Institut de Minéralogie et de Physique des Milieux Condensés (CNRS/UMR 7590) Universités Paris 6 & Paris 7, Paris, France
Correspondence to:
Guy R Cornelis, Biozentrum, Klingelbergstrasse 50, 4056 Basel, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 61 267 2110; Fax: +41 61 267 2118; E-mail: guy.cornelis@unibas.ch
aPresent address: Imperial College London, Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection, Flowers Building, Armstrong Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
bPresent address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Received 11 January 2006; Accepted 29 May 2006
Abstract
Bacterial injectisomes deliver effector proteins straight into the cytosol of eukaryotic cells (type III secretion, T3S). Many effectors are associated with a specific chaperone that remains inside the bacterium when the effector is delivered. The structure of such chaperones and the way they interact with their substrate is well characterized but their main function remains elusive. Here, we describe and characterize SycO, a new chaperone for the Yersinia effector kinase YopO. The chaperone-binding domain (CBD) within YopO coincides with the membrane localization domain (MLD) targeting YopO to the host cell membrane. The CBD/MLD causes intrabacterial YopO insolubility and the binding of SycO prevents this insolubility but not folding and activity of the kinase. Similarly, SycE masks the MLD of YopE and SycT covers an aggregation-prone domain of YopT, presumably corresponding to its MLD. Thus, SycO, SycE and most likely SycT mask, inside the bacterium, a domain needed for proper localization of their cognate effector in the host cell. We propose that covering an MLD might be an essential function of T3S effector chaperones.
Keywords:
- effectors,
- targeting,
- translocation,
- type III secretion,
- Yops
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