Secretion of TcpF by the Vibrio cholerae toxin-coregulated pilus biogenesis apparatus requires an N-terminal determinant.

ABSTRACT: Type IV pili are important for microcolony formation, biofilm formation, twitching motility, and attachment. We and others have shown that type IV pili are important for protein secretion across the outer membrane, similar to type II secretion systems. This study explored the relationship between protein secretion and pilus formation in Vibrio cholerae. The toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP), a type IV pilus required for V. cholerae pathogenesis, is necessary for the secretion of the colonization factor TcpF (T. J. Kirn, N. Bose, and R. K. Taylor, Mol. Microbiol. 49:81-92, 2003). This phenomenon is not unique to V. cholerae; secreted virulence factors that are dependent on the presence of components of the type IV pilus biogenesis apparatus for secretion have been reported with Dichelobacter no

SUBMITTER: Megli CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3697254 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature