In vivo TssA proximity labeling reveals temporal interactions during Type VI secretion 1 biogenesis and TagA, a protein that stops and holds the sheath.

Yoann G Santin (1) , Thierry Doan (1) , Régine Lebrun (2) , Leon Espinosa (3) , Laure Journet (1) , E. Cascales (1)

1 LISM - Laboratoire d'ingénierie des systèmes macromoléculaires
2 Plateforme Protéomique [Marseille]
3 LCB - Laboratoire de chimie bactérienne

The Type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a multiprotein weapon used by bacteria to destroy competitor cells. The T6SS contractile sheath wraps an effector-loaded syringe that is injected into the target cell. This tail structure assembles onto the baseplate that is docked to the membrane complex. In entero-aggregative Escherichia coli TssA plays a central role at each stage of the T6SS assembly pathway by stabilizing the baseplate and coordinating the polymerization of the tail. Here we adapted an assay based on APEX2-dependent biotinylation to identify the proximity partners of TssA in vivo. By using stage-blocking mutations, we define the temporal contacts of TssA during T6SS biogenesis. This proteomic mapping approach also revealed an additional partner of TssA, TagA. We show that TagA is a cytosolic protein tightly associated with the membrane. Analyses of sheath dynamics further demonstrate that TagA captures the distal end of the sheath to stop its polymerization and to maintain it under the extended conformation.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology

Yoann G Santin, Thierry Doan, Régine Lebrun, Leon Espinosa, Laure Journet, et al.. In vivo TssA proximity labeling reveals temporal interactions during Type VI secretion 1 biogenesis and TagA, a protein that stops and holds the sheath.. Nature Microbiology, 2018, 3 (11), pp.1304-1313. ⟨10.1038/s41564-018-0234-3⟩. ⟨hal-02341026⟩