Structural and functional insights into the delivery of a bacterial Rhs pore-forming toxin to the membrane.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial competition is a significant driver of toxin polymorphism, which allows continual compensatory evolution between toxins and the resistance developed to overcome their activity. Bacterial Rearrangement hot spot (Rhs) proteins represent a widespread example of toxin polymorphism. Here, we present the 2.45 Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of Tse5, an Rhs protein central to Pseudomonas aeruginosa type VI secretion system-mediated bacterial competition. This structural insight, coupled with an extensive array of biophysical and genetic investigations, unravels the multifaceted functional mechanisms of Tse5. The data suggest that interfacial Tse5-membrane binding delivers its encapsulated pore-forming toxin fragment to the target bacterial membrane, where it assembles pores that ca

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez-Magana A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10684867 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature