The EMBO Journal
 
Advanced search
Journal home
Aims and scope
Current issue
Advance Online Publication
Web Focuses
Archive:-
Browse by issue
Browse by subject
Browse by category
Free online sample issue
Press releases
Authors & Referees
Editorial process
Guide for authors
Submit an article
Guide for referees
Editorial Team, Senior Advisors and Advisory Editorial Board
Contact Editorial office
Customer services
Subscribe
Order sample copy
Purchase articles
Reprints and permissions
Contact NPG
Advertising
EMBO
www.embo.org
Article
Subject Categories: Microbiology & Pathogens
The EMBO Journal (2006) 25, 3223–3233, doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601202
Published online 22 June 2006
The discovery of SycO highlights a new function for type III secretion effector chaperones
Michel Letzelter1, Isabel Sorg1, Luís Jaime Mota1, 3, Salome Meyer1, Jacqueline Stalder1, Mario Feldman1, 4, Marina Kuhn1, Isabelle Callebaut2 and Guy R Cornelis1
1 Biozentrum der Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2 Département de Biologie Structurale, Institut de Minéralogie et de Physique des Milieux Condensés (CNRS/UMR 7590) Universités Paris 6 & Paris 7, Paris, France

To whom correspondence should be addressed
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

3 Present address: Imperial College London, Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection, Flowers Building, Armstrong Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
4 Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Received 11 January 2006; Accepted 29 May 2006; Published online 22 June 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
Top

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated

NEWS AND VIEWS

Yersinia lead SUMO attack

Nature Medicine News and Views (01 Jan 2001)

Delivering dangerous cargoes

Nature Structural Biology News and Views (01 Dec 2001)

Send to a friendEmail link to a friend
PDFDownload PDF
Full textFull text
Next article
Previous article
Table of contents
rights and permissionsRights and permissions
order commercial reprintsReprints
ToC alertRegister for table of contents by email
  Privacy policy Copyright © 2006 by the European Molecular Biology Organization