The abi proteins and their involvement in bacteriocin self-immunity.

ABSTRACT: The Abi protein family consists of putative membrane-bound metalloproteases. While they are involved in membrane anchoring of proteins in eukaryotes, little is known about their function in prokaryotes. In some known bacteriocin loci, Abi genes have been found downstream of bacteriocin structural genes (e.g., pln locus from Lactobacillus plantarum and sag locus from Streptococcus pyogenes), where they probably are involved in self-immunity. By modifying the profile hidden Markov model used to select Abi proteins in the Pfam protein family database, we show that this family is larger than presently recognized. Using bacteriocin-associated Abi genes as a means to search for novel bacteriocins in sequenced genomes, seven new bacteriocin-like loci were identified in Gram-positive bacteria. One

SUBMITTER: Kjos M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2849437 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature