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High-Salinity Growth Conditions Promote Tat-Independent Secretion of Tat Substrates in Bacillus subtilis

van der Ploeg, René, Monteferrante, Carmine G., Piersma, Sjouke, Barnett, James P., Kouwen, Thijs R. H. M, Robinson, Colin, van Dijl, Jan Maarten (2012) High-Salinity Growth Conditions Promote Tat-Independent Secretion of Tat Substrates in Bacillus subtilis. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78 (21). pp. 7733-7744. ISSN 0099-2240. (doi:10.1128/AEM.02093-12) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:35363)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02093-12

Abstract

The Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis contains two Tat translocases, which can facilitate transport of folded proteins across the plasma membrane. Previous research has shown that Tat-dependent protein secretion in B. subtilis is a highly selective process and that heterologous proteins, such as the green fluorescent protein (GFP), are poor Tat substrates in this organism. Nevertheless, when expressed in Escherichia coli, both B. subtilis Tat translocases facilitated exclusively Tat-dependent export of folded GFP when the twin-arginine (RR) signal peptides of the E. coli AmiA, DmsA, or MdoD proteins were attached. Therefore, the present studies were aimed at determining whether the same RR signal peptide-GFP precursors would also be exported Tat dependently in B. subtilis. In addition, we investigated the secretion of GFP fused to the full-length YwbN protein, a strict Tat substrate in B. subtilis. Several investigated GFP fusion proteins were indeed secreted in B. subtilis, but this secretion was shown to be completely Tat independent. At high-salinity growth conditions, the Tat-independent secretion of GFP as directed by the RR signal peptides from the E. coli AmiA, DmsA, or MdoD proteins was significantly enhanced, and this effect was strongest in strains lacking the TatAy-TatCy translocase. This implies that high environmental salinity has a negative influence on the avoidance of Tat-independent secretion of AmiA-GFP, DmsA-GFP, and MdoD-GFP. We conclude that as-yet-unidentified control mechanisms reject the investigated GFP fusion proteins for translocation by the B. subtilis Tat machinery and, at the same time, set limits to their Tat-independent secretion, presumably via the Sec pathway.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1128/AEM.02093-12
Subjects: Q Science
Q Science > QH Natural history
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Biosciences
Depositing User: Colin Robinson
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2013 09:05 UTC
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2024 10:18 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/35363 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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