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Updated: May 1, 2026

Isolation of Physiologically Active Thylakoids and Their Use in Energy-Dependent Protein Transport Assays
Published on: September 28, 2018
Structural biology of Tat protein transport
Ben C Berks1, Susan M Lea2, Phillip J Stansfeld1
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
The Tat protein transport system is found in the cytoplasmic membrane of prokaryotes and the thylakoid membrane of plant chloroplasts. Unusually, the Tat system translocates proteins only after they have folded. Proteins are targeted to the Tat system by specific N-terminal signal peptides. High resolution structures have recently been determined for the TatA and TatC proteins that form the Tat translocation site. These structures provide a molecular framework for understanding the mechanism of Tat transport. The interactions between TatC and the signal peptide of the substrate protein can be provisionally modelled. However, the way that TatA and TatC combine in the active translocation site remains to be definitively established.
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