The Tat-dependent protein translocation pathway

verfasst von

Bou Hou, Thomas Brüser

Abstract

The twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway is found in bacteria, archaea, and plant chloroplasts, where it is dedicated to the transmembrane transport of fully folded proteins. These proteins contain N-terminal signal peptides with a specific Tat-system binding motif that is recognized by the transport machinery. In contrast to other protein transport systems, the Tat system consists of multiple copies of only two or three usually small (∼8-30 kDa) membrane proteins that oligomerize to two large complexes that transiently interact during translocation. Only one of these complexes includes a polytopic membrane protein, TatC. The other complex consists of TatA. Tat systems of plants, proteobacteria, and several other phyla contain a third component, TatB. TatB is evolutionarily and structurally related to TatA and usually forms tight complexes with TatC. Minimal two-component Tat systems lacking TatB are found in many bacterial and archaeal phyla. They consist of a 'bifunctional' TatA that also covers TatB functionalities, and a TatC. Recent insights into the structure and interactions of the Tat proteins have various important implications.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Mikrobiologie

Typ

Übersichtsarbeit

Journal

Biomolecular Concepts

Band

2

Seiten

507-523

Anzahl der Seiten

17

ISSN

1868-5021

Publikationsdatum

01.12.2011

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Biochemie, Genetik und Molekularbiologie (insg.), Zelluläre und Molekulare Neurowissenschaften

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1515/BMC.2011.040 (Zugang: Offen)