Secretion and subcellular localizations of bacterial proteins: a semantic awareness issue

M Desvaux, M Hebraud, R Talon, Ian Henderson

Research output: Contribution to journalReview article

251 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Extracellular proteins are a subject of intense interest because of their essential roles in bacterial lifestyles. However, several terms related to secretion are used confusingly in the literature, and this is a topical issue in genomics and proteomics. Defining a secreted protein as actively translocated via a secretion system, here, we put into perspective that homologous translocation systems can result in radically different subcellular localizations of a secreted protein. We propose using standardized nomenclature for secretion systems from type I to type Vill for Gram-negative bacteria only, whereas the terms 'Sec' (secretion), 'Tat' (twin-arginine translocation), 'FEA' (flagella export apparatus), 'FPE' (fimbrilin-protein exporter), 'holin' (hole forming) and 'Wss' (WXG100 secretion system) should be applied to translocation systems across the cytoplasmic membrane of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Finally, we discuss why the term 'exoproteome' should be favoured over 'secretome' when describing the subset of proteins present in the extracellular milieu.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)139-145
Number of pages7
JournalTrends in Microbiology
Volume17
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2009

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