Type V Secretion Systems in Bacteria
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Updated: Mar 23, 2026

A Visual Assay to Monitor T6SS-mediated Bacterial Competition
Published on: March 20, 2013
Enguo Fan1, Nandini Chauhan2, D B R K Gupta Udatha2
1Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg D-79104, Germany.
Abstract:
Type V secretion denotes a variety of secretion systems that cross the outer membrane in Gram-negative bacteria but that depend on the Sec machinery for transport through the inner membrane. They are possibly the simplest bacterial secretion systems, because they consist only of a single polypeptide chain (or two chains in the case of two-partner secretion). Their seemingly autonomous transport through the outer membrane has led to the term "autotransporters" for various subclasses of type V secretion. In this chapter, we review the structure and function of these transporters and review recent findings on additional factors involved in the secretion process, which have put the term "autotransporter" to debate.
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