Chimeric systems composed of swapped Tra subunits between distantly-related F plasmids reveal striking plasticity among type IV secretion machines.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial type IV secretion systems (T4SSs) are a versatile family of macromolecular translocators, collectively able to recruit diverse DNA and protein substrates and deliver them to a wide range of cell types. Presently, there is little understanding of how T4SSs recognize substrate repertoires and form productive contacts with specific target cells. Although T4SSs are composed of a number of conserved subunits and adopt certain conserved structural features, they also display considerable compositional and structural diversity. Here, we explored the structural bases underlying the functional versatility of T4SSs through systematic deletion and subunit swapping between two conjugation systems encoded by the distantly-related IncF plasmids, pED208 and F. We identified several regions of i

SUBMITTER: Kishida K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10723329 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature