The Tat-dependent protein translocation pathway

authored by
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.

Organisation(s)
Institute of Microbiology
Type
Review article
Journal
Biomolecular Concepts
Volume
2
Pages
507-523
No. of pages
17
ISSN
1868-5021
Publication date
01.12.2011
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all), Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1515/BMC.2011.040 (Access: Open)