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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Monitoring the Assembly of a Secreted Bacterial Virulence Factor Using Site-specific Crosslinking
Published on: December 17, 2013
Autotransporter and two-partner secretion: delivery of large-size virulence factors by gram-negative bacterial
Cheryl L Newman1, Christos Stathopoulos
1Department of Biology & Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
Abstract:
A number of protein secretion mechanisms have been identified in gram-negative pathogens. Many of these secretion systems are dependent upon the Sec translocase for protein export from the cytoplasm into the periplasm and then utilize other mechanisms for transport from the periplasm through the outer membrane. In this article, we review secretion similarities between autotransporter and two-partner secretion systems, and we report similarities between the autotransporter secretion mechanism with that of intimin/invasins. Considering that many secreted proteins are virulence factors, a better understanding of their secretion mechanisms will aid in the development of disease treatments and new bacterial vaccines.
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