Constitutive expression of Escherichia coli tat genes indicates an important role for the twin-arginine translocase during aerobic and anaerobic growth.

ABSTRACT

The transcription start sites for the tatABCD and tatE loci, encoding components of the Tat (twin-arginine translocase) protein export pathway, have been identified. Expression studies indicate that the tatABCD and tatE transcription units are expressed constitutively. Translational fusion experiments suggest that TatA is synthesized at a much higher level than the other Tat proteins.