Interestingly, a similar intermediate phenotype was observed for

Interestingly, a similar intermediate phenotype was observed for a Salmonella flhB null mutant see more expressing a slow cleaving FlhB(P270A) protein

where cells were weakly motile and exported reduced amounts of flagellin [32]. Chaperone-effector complex docking at the inner membrane has been reported for many T3SS [58, 59]. We have previously demonstrated that CesT inner membrane association is aided by the presence of the T3SS ATPase EscN [39]. The data cannot rule out the possibility that the EPEC T3SS export apparatus may be structurally impaired or malformed in the presence of uncleaved EscU although it has been demonstrated that un-cleaved forms of EscU can fold correctly [26]. The levels of EscN (T3SS ATPase) were unchanged in ΔescU bacteria expressing uncleaved or partially uncleaved forms of EscU (MDV3100 nmr Figure 2B). Since bacteria expressing EscU(P263A) did support effector translocation, albeit at a reduced level, a functional

T3SS export apparatus was likely assembled even though EscU(P263A) was only partially auto-cleaved. In support of this, within S. typhimurium, uncleaved SpaS (EscU homologue) still supported the formation of a high order export apparatus – needle complex composed of at least 10 proteins as shown by blue native (BN) PAGE Src inhibitor of enriched needle complex containing fractions [60]. A number of studies have reported on specific protein-protein interactions important for T3SS function. Auto-cleavage of HrcU (an EscU homologue in Xanthomonas) promoted an interaction between the ATPase HrcN, and the C-terminal cleavage product of HrcU [48]. The global T3S chaperone HpaB was Org 27569 also shown to interact with HrcN and the full-length form of HrcU. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments using EPEC lysates and anti-CesT antibodies failed to detect an interaction with EscU or non-cleaving EscU variants (Figure 6). Although we cannot rule out the possibility of a direct CesT-EscU interaction, we provide evidence that efficient CesT membrane

association occurs when EscU is auto-cleaved (Figure 5A). It has been demonstrated that the YscU/FlhB proteins interacts with multiple components within their respective T3SS [24, 60–62]. A shortlist of protein interactions includes YscI, YscK, YscL, YscN, YscQ and YscV (using the Yersinia nomenclature) among other proteins. The putative YscL, YscI and YscQ homologues within the EPEC LEE PAI are believed to be Orf5, rOrf8 and SepQ respectively [63] although the homology scores are very low (below 15%). A yeast two hybrid screen identified rOrf8 (putative YscI homologue) as an EscU binding partner [64]. The YscI/PrgJ family form an inner rod within the T3SS needle complex, a structure that may exist for EPEC but has not been identified in highly purified needle preparations [20].

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