Open AccessBioinformatics, genomics and evolution of non‐flagellar type‐III secretion systems: a Darwinian perpective ⋆
Author(s) -
Pallen Mark J.,
Beatson Scott A.,
Bailey Christopher M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
fems microbiology reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.91
H-Index - 212
eISSN - 1574-6976
pISSN - 0168-6445
DOI - 10.1016/j.femsre.2005.01.001
Subject(s) - biology , secretion , darwinism , comparative genomics , virulence , evolutionary biology , genomics , systems biology , computational biology , genome , genetics , gene , biochemistry
We review the biology of non-flagellar type-III secretion systems from a Darwinian perspective, highlighting the themes of evolution, conservation, variation and decay. The presence of these systems in environmental organisms such as Myxococcus, Desulfovibrio and Verrucomicrobium hints at roles beyond virulence. We review newly discovered sequence homologies (e.g., YopN/TyeA and SepL). We discuss synapomorphies that might be useful in formulating a taxonomy of type-III secretion. The problem of information overload is likely to be ameliorated by launch of a web site devoted to the comparative biology of type-III secretion ().