What is it about?
In this paper, we investigate a type IV secretion system from the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. We isolate a membrane-spanning protein complex from the H. pylori cag type IV secretion system and analyze its composition and structure.
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Why is it important?
Relatively little is known about the structural organization of type IV secretion systems that deliver bacterial proteins into eukaryotic cells. The results of this study show that a membrane-spanning core complex from the H. pylori cag type IV secretion system contains unique proteins unrelated to components of type IV secretion systems in other bacterial species. H. pylori infection is an important cause of stomach cancer, and the cag type IV secretion system has a key role in the process by which H. pylori infection leads to stomach cancer. An in-depth understanding of this secretion system provides important new insights into H. pylori-associated carcinogenesis.
Perspectives
Previous studies have identified H. pylori genes required for activity of the type IV secretion system, and protein-protein interactions among the encoded proteins have been detected. This is the first study to report isolation and structural analysis of a membrane-spanning protein complex from the H. pylori cag type IV secretion system. Importantly, the composition and structural features of this protein complex are considerably different from corresponding complexes in type IV secretion systems from other bacterial species.
Dr Timothy L Cover
Vanderbilt University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Molecular and Structural Analysis of the
Helicobacter pylori cag
Type IV Secretion System Core Complex, mBio, January 2016, ASM Journals,
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02001-15.
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