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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2000, p. 2163-2169, Vol. 182, No. 8
Center for Molecular Modeling, CIT, National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892,1
and Laboratory of Protein Secretion in Bacteria, Skryabin
Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Russian
Academy of Sciences, 142292 Pushchino, Moscow Region,
Russia2
Received 22 October 1999/Accepted 21 January 2000
This statistical study shows that in proteins of gram-negative
bacteria exported by the Sec-dependent pathway, the first 14 to 18 residues of the mature sequences have the highest deviation between the
observed and expected net charge distributions. Moreover, almost all
sequences have either neutral or negative net charge in this region.
This rule is restricted to gram-negative bacteria, since neither
eukaryotic nor gram-positive bacterial exported proteins have this
charge bias. Subsequent experiments performed with a series of
Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase mutants confirmed
that this charge bias is associated with protein translocation across
the cytoplasmic membrane. Two consecutive basic residues inhibit
translocation effectively when placed within the first 14 residues of
the mature protein but not when placed in positions 19 and 20. The
sensitivity to arginine partially reappeared again 30 residues away
from the signal sequence. These data provide new insight into the
mechanism of protein export in gram-negative bacteria and lead to
practical recommendations for successful secretion of hybrid proteins.
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
The Net Charge of the First 18 Residues of the Mature Sequence
Affects Protein Translocation across the Cytoplasmic Membrane of
Gram-Negative Bacteria
and
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Center for
Molecular Modeling CIT, NIH, Bldg. 12A Room 2011, Bethesda, MD 20892. Phone: (301) 402-3043. Fax: (301) 402-2867. E-mail:
kajava{at}helix.nih.gov.
Present address: National Institute of Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, MD 20892.
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