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Priming virulence factors for delivery into the host

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 4, pages 738–744 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Several medically important Gram-negative bacterial pathogens inject virulence factors into host cells through a type III secretion system and specialized bacterial chaperones are required for their effective delivery. Recent structural work shows that these chaperones maintain virulence factors in a partially non-globular conformation that is primed for unfolding and translocation through the 'injectisome'.

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Figure 1: The type III secretion system of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens injects virulence factors into host cells.
Figure 2: Crystal structures of type III secretion chaperone–virulence-factor complexes.
Figure 3: A comparison of several type III secretion chaperones from different pathogenic bacteria.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Structural Microbiology, The Rockefeller University, Box 52, 1230 York Avenue, New York, 10021, New York, USA

    C. Erec Stebbins

  2. Section of Microbial Pathogenesis, Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, 06536, Connecticut, USA

    Jorge E. Galán

Authors
  1. C. Erec Stebbins
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  2. Jorge E. Galán
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to C. Erec Stebbins or Jorge E. Galán.

Related links

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DATABASES

Swiss-Prot

CesT

DnaK

ExoS

GroEL

IpgC

LcrH

Rac1

SicA

SicP

SigE

SptP

SycE

YopE

YopH

YopM

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Stebbins, C., Galán, J. Priming virulence factors for delivery into the host. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 4, 738–744 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1201

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