BacA(SbmA) importer of legume symbiotic NCR peptides: Protein architecture, function, and evolutionary implications.

ABSTRACT: Some legumes encode families of NCR (Nodule-Cysteine-Rich) peptides that cause their rhizobial partners to terminally differentiate during the development of a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis. Sinorhizobium meliloti, whose plant hosts Medicago truncatula and Medicago sativa express ca. 600 NCR peptides during root nodule development, possesses a symbiotically essential BacA_Sm protein that imports certain NCR peptides into the cytoplasm. This import permits proteolytic degradation of the NCR peptides, thereby protecting the endocytosed bacteria from their antimicrobial peptide-like lethality, while also allowing certain NCR peptides to undergo their symbiotically critical interactions with cytoplasmic components, for example heme-sequestration in the

SUBMITTER: Arnold MFF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12912959 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature