Entropy-driven translocation of disordered proteins through the Gram-positive bacterial cell wall.

ABSTRACT: In Gram-positive bacteria, a thick cross-linked cell wall separates the membrane from the extracellular space. Some surface-exposed proteins, such as the Listeria monocytogenes actin nucleation-promoting factor ActA, remain associated with the bacterial membrane but somehow thread through tens of nanometres of cell wall to expose their amino terminus to the exterior. Here, we report that entropy enables the translocation of disordered transmembrane proteins through the Gram-positive cell wall. We build a physical model, which predicts that the entropic constraint imposed by a thin periplasm is sufficient to drive the translocation of an intrinsically disordered protein such as ActA across a porous barrier similar to a peptidoglycan cell wall. We experimentally validate our model and show t

SUBMITTER: Halladin DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10265014 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature