Mechanism of secretion of the bacteriocin enterocin p

Objective

Enterocin P is a bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecium P13 and related strains. It has a potential as food biopreservative. In order to optimize the use of this bacteriocin in food preservation, it is important to study its synthesis and secretion. Enterocin P is synthesized as a 71 amino acid precursor (preEntP) with a typical N-terminal signal sequence of 21 amino acids long. The presence of this signal sequence suggests that preEntP is secreted through the General Secretion pathway (Sec-pathway) which would be unusual for two reasons :
1) preEntP is a relatively small secreted protein, and
2) many bacteriocins are secreted by dedicated ATP-dependent transport systems and use an atypical signal sequence. The main objective of this project is to establish the mechanism of preEntP secretion. The preEntP structural gene will be cloned, over expressed and purified from Escherichia coli, and alternatively, synthesized in an in vitro transcription/translation system. PreEntP will be used for in vitro processing and translocation assays employing inner membrane vesicles of E. coli, Ent. faecium and Bacillus subtilis. The dependence on the Sec- and YidC pathways and the identity of the processing enzyme will be determined. The results will be verified by in vivo studies of protein export.

Fields of science

• natural sciences › chemical sciences › organic chemistry › amines
• natural sciences › biological sciences › biochemistry › biomolecules › proteins › enzymes

Programme(s)

• FP5-HUMAN POTENTIAL - Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on "Improving the human research potential and the socio-economic knowledge base" (1998-2002)

Topic(s)

Data not available

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

RGI - Research grants (individual fellowships)

Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

Address

30,kerklaan 30
9750 AA Haren Gn
Netherlands