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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2002, p. 2225-2234, Vol. 184, No. 8
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.8.2225-2234.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Extracellular Transport Signal of the Vibrio cholerae Endochitinase (ChiA) Is a Structural Motif Located between Amino Acids 75 and 555

Jason P. Folster and Terry D. Connell*

The Witebsky Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology and Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14214

Received 17 August 2001/ Accepted 20 January 2002

ChiA, an 88-kDa endochitinase encoded by the chiA gene of the gram-negative enteropathogen Vibrio cholerae, is secreted via the eps-encoded main terminal branch of the general secretory pathway (GSP), a mechanism which also transports cholera toxin. To localize the extracellular transport signal of ChiA that initiates transport of the protein through the GSP, a chimera comprised of ChiA fused at the N terminus with the maltose-binding protein (MalE) of Escherichia coli and fused at the C terminus with a 13-amino-acid epitope tag (E-tag) was expressed in strain 569B(chiA::Kanr), a chiA-deficient but secretion-competent mutant of V. cholerae. Fractionation studies revealed that blockage of the natural N terminus and C terminus of ChiA did not prevent secretion of the MalE-ChiA-E-tag chimera. To locate the amino acid sequences which encoded the transport signal, a series of truncations of ChiA were engineered. Secretion of the mutant polypeptides was curtailed only when ChiA was deleted from the N terminus beyond amino acid position 75 or from the C terminus beyond amino acid 555. A mutant ChiA comprised of only those amino acids was secreted by wild-type V. cholerae but not by an epsD mutant, establishing that amino acids 75 to 555 independently harbored sufficient structural information to promote secretion by the GSP of V. cholerae. Cys77 and Cys537, two cysteines located just within the termini of ChiA(75-555), were not required for secretion, indicating that those residues were not essential for maintaining the functional activity of the ChiA extracellular transport signal.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Witebsky Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology and Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214. Phone: 716-829-3364. Fax: 716-829-2158. E-mail: connell{at}acsu.buffalo.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, April 2002, p. 2225-2234, Vol. 184, No. 8
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.8.2225-2234.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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