Oligomerization of PcrV and LcrV, protective antigens of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Yersinia pestis.

ABSTRACT: Protective antigens of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PcrV) and Yersinia pestis (LcrV) are key elements of specialized machinery, the type III secretion system (T3SS), which enables the injection of effector molecules into eukaryotic cells. Being positioned at the injectisome extremity, V proteins participate in the translocation process across the host cell plasma membrane. In this study, we demonstrate the assembly of V proteins into oligomeric doughnut-like complexes upon controlled refolding of the proteins in vitro. The oligomeric nature of refolded PcrV was revealed by size exclusion chromatography, native gel electrophoresis, and native mass spectrometry, which ascertain the capacity of the protein to multimerize into higher-order species. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy perf

SUBMITTER: Gebus C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3259777 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature