Exploiting the structure of the Type 9 Secretion System protein translocon

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Secretion of proteins into the environment is an fundamental feature of bacterial life. This is the mechanism by which pathogenic bacteria cause disease. Likewise, the bacteria that break down plant fibres into biofuels must secrete enzymes to digest the fibres because the fibres are too big to be transported into the bacterium. The Bacteroidetes are an important group of bacteria found in the digestive tracts of animals and humans, as well as being widespread in the environment. Recent research has shown that Bacteroidete bacteria use a previously-undiscovered apparatus to export proteins, called the type 9 secretion system, or T9SS for short. The T9SS is essential for dental pathogens to cause perditontal disease and to cause the main bacterial diseases of salmon and other farmed fish. We have recently isolated the pore in the bacterial cell surface through which the T9SS secretes proteins and have determined its structure using electron microscopy. We will use this structural information as a basis for experiments to understand how the T9SS pore operates. We will also investigate how the pore collaborates with other components of the T9SS to achieve protein export from the cell. This work has the potential to aid the design of drugs to attack pathogenic Bacteroidetes as well as to help us understand how to exploit other Bacteroidetes to make biofuels from plant fibres.