Triggering assembly of the twin-arginine translocase

所有的细菌都产生在细菌细胞外运作的蛋白质。细菌病原体产生的毒素就是很好的例子。由于细菌只在细胞内制造蛋白质，新合成的细胞外蛋白质必须穿过通常不可渗透的细胞膜移出细胞。达特蛋白转运蛋白存在于许多不同的细菌中，包括几乎所有引起人类疾病的细菌，如结核分枝杆菌（引起结核病）和沙门氏菌（引起食物中毒）。在所有测试的病原菌中，达特转运蛋白对于细菌引起疾病是必需的。因此，科学家们对开发阻止达特系统工作的药物越来越感兴趣。为了了解达特机制是如何工作的，我们将使用尖端的分子建模，动力学和实验方法来阐明运输机制如何识别待运输蛋白质上的靶向标签。这些知识将有助于支持理解和抑制病原体中的这一途径的尝试。

All bacteria produce proteins that operate on the outside of the bacterial cell. Good examples of this are the toxins produced by bacterial pathogens. Since bacteria only make proteins inside the cell, the newly-synthesised extracellular proteins must be moved out of the cell across the normally impermeable cell membrane. This task is carried out by machines termed protein transporters that are located in the cell membrane.The Tat protein transporter is found in many different bacteria including almost all those which cause human diseases such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (which causes tuberculosis), and Salmonella (which causes food poisoning). In all pathogenic bacteria tested the Tat transporter is essential for the bacterium to cause disease. Thus, scientists are becoming increasingly interested in developing drugs that prevent the Tat system from working.In order to understand how the Tat machinery works we will use cutting edge molecular modelling, dynamics and experimental approaches to elucidate how the transport machinery recognises the targeting tags present on the proteins that are to be transported. This knowledge will help underpin attempts to understand and inhibit this pathway in pathogens.