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Journal of Bacteriology, October 2002, p. 5762-5771, Vol. 184, No. 20
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.20.5762-5771.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Escherichia coli DegP Protease Cleaves between Paired Hydrophobic Residues in a Natural Substrate: the PapA Pilin

C. Hal Jones,1* Paul Dexter,1 Amy K. Evans,1 Christopher Liu,2 Scott J. Hultgren,2 and Dennis E. Hruby1,3

SIGA Technologies, Inc., Corvallis, Oregon 97333,1 Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, Missouri 63110,2 Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 973313

Received 23 April 2002/ Accepted 20 July 2002

The DegP protein, a multifunctional chaperone and protease, is essential for clearance of denatured or aggregated proteins from the inner-membrane and periplasmic space in Escherichia coli. To date, four natural targets for DegP have been described: colicin A lysis protein, pilin subunits and MalS from E. coli, and high-molecular-weight adherence proteins from Haemophilus influenzae. In vitro, DegP has shown weak protease activity with casein and several other nonnative substrates. We report here the identification of the major pilin subunit of the Pap pilus, PapA, as a natural DegP substrate and demonstrate binding and proteolysis of this substrate in vitro. Using overlapping peptide arrays, we identified three regions in PapA that are preferentially cleaved by DegP. A 7-mer peptide was found to be a suitable substrate for cleavage by DegP in vitro. In vitro proteolysis of model peptide substrates revealed that cleavage is dependent upon the presence of paired hydrophobic amino acids; moreover, cleavage was found to occur between the hydrophobic residues. Finally, we demonstrate that the conserved carboxyl-terminal sequence in pilin subunits, although not a cleavage substrate for DegP, activates the protease and we propose that the activating peptide is recognized by DegP's PDZ domains.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Wyeth Research, Bldg. 205, Rm. 282, 401 N. Middletown Rd., Pearl River, NY 10965. Phone: (845) 602-1762. Fax: (845) 602-2480. E-mail: jonesh3{at}wyeth.com.


Journal of Bacteriology, October 2002, p. 5762-5771, Vol. 184, No. 20
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.20.5762-5771.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.




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