Contact
    Start Publications Structural and functional insights into the delivery of a ...
    ←  Publication Finder
    QSense

    Structural and functional insights into the delivery of a bacterial Rhs pore-forming toxin to the membrane

    Year: 2023

    Authors: González-Magaña, Amaia; Tascón, Igor; Altuna-Alvarez, Jon; Queralt-Martín, María; Colautti, Jake; Velázquez, Carmen; Zabala, Maialen; Rojas-Palomino, Jessica; Cárdenas, Marité; Alcaraz, Antonio; Whitney, John C.; Ubarretxena-Belandia, Iban; Albesa-Jové, David

    Keywords: Bacterial structural biology; Bacterial toxins; Cryoelectron microscopy; Ion channels; Pathogens

    Bacterial competition is a significant driver of toxin polymorphism, which allows continual compensatory evolution between toxins and the resistance developed to overcome their activity. Bacterial Rearrangement hot spot (Rhs) proteins represent a widespread example of toxin polymorphism. Here, we present the 2.45 Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of Tse5, an Rhs protein central to Pseudomonas aeruginosa type VI secretion system-mediated bacterial competition. This structural insight, coupled with an extensive array of biophysical and genetic investigations, unravels the multifaceted functional mechanisms of Tse5. The data suggest that interfacial Tse5-membrane binding delivers its encapsulated pore-forming toxin fragment to the target bacterial membrane, where it assembles pores that cause cell depolarisation and, ultimately, bacterial death.
    View publication