Bacterial Secreted Proteins - Role in Disease
Pathogenic bacteria must be able to manipulate and interact productively with the cells of the human that they have infected.
One of the chief mechanisms by which they are able to achieve this aim is by producing specialized proteins with a variety of biological functions.
These proteins may be toxic to the human cell or may be able to make subtle alterations of the human cell in order to benefit the bacteria.
(Reference: Bacterial Secreted Proteins - Secretory Mechanisms and Role in Pathogenesis ISBN: 978-1-904455-42-4) These proteins are produced inside the bacterial cell, in the cytoplasm, and for them to interact productively with the human cell they must be transported (translocated) across one or more bacterial membranes and other structures to the cell surface of the bacterium and thus to the outside of the bacterial cell.
For this reason protein secretion systems are very important to bacteria, especially to pathogenic bacteria.
Without these protein secretion systems the bacteria might not be able to infect their human victims.
Bacteria have evolved a huge array of mechanisms for protein secretion.
Gram-negative bacteria in particular have complex mechanisms due to the presence of two dissimilar membranes for the proteins to cross.
Many different protein secretion systems have been characterized in various species of bacteria.
In many cases it is thought that systems involved in the assembly of cell surface structures such as adhesive fimbrae, conjugative pili or flagella have evolved into systems dedicated to the secretion of proteins that are important in pathogenesis.
In some cases such protein secretion systems have a dual role and are used to secrete both surface organelles as well as other proteins.
A wide variety of pathogens use different arrays of secreted proteins and various protein secretion systems.
Secreted proteins are particularly important in bacterial pathogenesis and research on bacterial secreted proteins and the secretion mechanisms is contributing to the understanding of bacterial pathogenesis and may aid the development of new drugs active against bacterial infections.
One of the chief mechanisms by which they are able to achieve this aim is by producing specialized proteins with a variety of biological functions.
These proteins may be toxic to the human cell or may be able to make subtle alterations of the human cell in order to benefit the bacteria.
(Reference: Bacterial Secreted Proteins - Secretory Mechanisms and Role in Pathogenesis ISBN: 978-1-904455-42-4) These proteins are produced inside the bacterial cell, in the cytoplasm, and for them to interact productively with the human cell they must be transported (translocated) across one or more bacterial membranes and other structures to the cell surface of the bacterium and thus to the outside of the bacterial cell.
For this reason protein secretion systems are very important to bacteria, especially to pathogenic bacteria.
Without these protein secretion systems the bacteria might not be able to infect their human victims.
Bacteria have evolved a huge array of mechanisms for protein secretion.
Gram-negative bacteria in particular have complex mechanisms due to the presence of two dissimilar membranes for the proteins to cross.
Many different protein secretion systems have been characterized in various species of bacteria.
In many cases it is thought that systems involved in the assembly of cell surface structures such as adhesive fimbrae, conjugative pili or flagella have evolved into systems dedicated to the secretion of proteins that are important in pathogenesis.
In some cases such protein secretion systems have a dual role and are used to secrete both surface organelles as well as other proteins.
A wide variety of pathogens use different arrays of secreted proteins and various protein secretion systems.
Secreted proteins are particularly important in bacterial pathogenesis and research on bacterial secreted proteins and the secretion mechanisms is contributing to the understanding of bacterial pathogenesis and may aid the development of new drugs active against bacterial infections.
Source...