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Identifying outer membrane biogenesis factors in Escherichia coli
Author(s) -
Ruiz Natividad
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a40-e
Subject(s) - bacterial outer membrane , biogenesis , biology , porin , escherichia coli , membrane protein , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , inner membrane , membrane , organelle biogenesis , outer membrane efflux proteins , peripheral membrane protein , biochemistry , chemistry , integral membrane protein , genetics , gene
A key function of cellular membranes is to exclude toxic small molecules while allowing influx of desirable molecules like nutrients. Cells achieve this by controlling the composition of different types of proteins and lipids within membranes by a process called membrane biogenesis. We have recently shown how a strategy known as chemical conditionality can be used to identify membrane biogenesis factors in Gram‐negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli by selecting for suppressors of mutations that render the bacterial outer membrane leaky. Using this strategy, we have identified YfgL and YaeT, two members of a multi‐protein complex involved in the assembly of outer membrane β‐barrel proteins. Although YfgL is not highly conserved among bacteria, YaeT is an essential protein in Gram‐negative bacteria and it is conserved from bacteria to man, as it is involved in outer membrane biogenesis in bacteria, mitochondria and chloroplasts. Analyses of our yaeT and yfgL mutants have revealed that mutations in these genes partially restore the impermeability of the outer membrane of a strain that is defective in the assembly of the outer membrane lipid lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, they demonstrate that when applying chemical conditionality, different toxic small molecules select different, and highly specific, genetic solutions for correcting membrane‐permeability defects. I will discuss how using a combination of chemical conditionality, genetic, and biochemical studies, we have advanced our understanding of outer membrane assembly in Escherichia coli .