PscF is a major component of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa type III secretion needle.

Alexandrine Pastor (1) , Jacqueline Chabert (1) , Mathilde Louwagie (2) , Jerôme Garin (3, 4) , Ina Attree (1)

1 BBSI - Biochimie et biophysique des systèmes intégrés
2 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
3 Laboratoire de chimie des protéines
4 UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen, translocates exoenzymes (Exo) directly into the eukaryotic cell cytoplasm. This is accomplished by a type III secretion/translocation machinery. Here, we show that the P. aeruginosa type III secretory needle structure is composed essentially of PscF, a protein required for secretion and P. aeruginosa cytotoxicity. Partially purified needles, detached from the bacterial surface, are 60-80 nm in length and 7 nm in width, resembling needles from Yersinia spp.. YscF of Yersinia enterocolitica was able to functionally complement the pscF deletion, but required 11 P. aeruginosa-specific amino acids at the N-terminus for its function.

Domaines: Bactériologie

Alexandrine Pastor, Jacqueline Chabert, Mathilde Louwagie, Jerôme Garin, Ina Attree. PscF is a major component of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa type III secretion needle.. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 2005, 253 (1), pp.95-101. ⟨10.1016/j.femsle.2005.09.028⟩. ⟨hal-00378748⟩