RESUMO
The type 2 secretion system (T2SS) is present in some Gram-negative eubacteria and used to secrete proteins across the outer membrane. Here we report that certain representative heteroloboseans, jakobids, malawimonads and hemimastigotes unexpectedly possess homologues of core T2SS components. We show that at least some of them are present in mitochondria, and their behaviour in biochemical assays is consistent with the presence of a mitochondrial T2SS-derived system (miT2SS). We additionally identified 23 protein families co-occurring with miT2SS in eukaryotes. Seven of these proteins could be directly linked to the core miT2SS by functional data and/or sequence features, whereas others may represent different parts of a broader functional pathway, possibly also involving the peroxisome. Its distribution in eukaryotes and phylogenetic evidence together indicate that the miT2SS-centred pathway is an ancestral eukaryotic trait. Our findings thus have direct implications for the functional properties of the early mitochondrion.
Assuntos
Evolução Molecular , Mitocôndrias/genética , Mitocôndrias/metabolismo , Sistemas de Secreção Tipo II/genética , Sistemas de Secreção Tipo II/metabolismo , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Sequência Conservada , Eucariotos/classificação , Eucariotos/genética , Eucariotos/metabolismo , Bactérias Gram-Negativas/classificação , Bactérias Gram-Negativas/genética , Bactérias Gram-Negativas/metabolismo , Proteínas Mitocondriais/classificação , Proteínas Mitocondriais/genética , Proteínas Mitocondriais/metabolismo , Modelos Biológicos , Modelos Moleculares , Naegleria/classificação , Naegleria/genética , Naegleria/metabolismo , Peroxissomos/metabolismo , Filogenia , Proteínas de Protozoários/classificação , Proteínas de Protozoários/genética , Proteínas de Protozoários/metabolismo , Homologia de Sequência de Aminoácidos , Sistemas de Secreção Tipo II/classificaçãoRESUMO
The type II secretion system (T2SS), which transports selected periplasmic proteins across the outer membrane, has rarely been studied in nonpathogens or in organisms classified as Betaproteobacteria. Therefore, we studied Cupriavidus metallidurans (Cme), a facultative chemilithoautotroph. Gel analysis of extracellular proteins revealed no remarkable differences between the wild type and the T2SS mutants. However, enzyme assays revealed that native extracellular alkaline phosphatase is a T2SS substrate, because activity was 10-fold greater for the wild type than a T2SS mutant. In Cme engineered to produce three Ralstonia solanacearum (Rso) exoenzymes, at least 95% of their total activities were extracellular, but unexpectedly high percentages of these exoenzymes remained extracellular in T2SS mutants cultured in rich broth. These conditions appear to permit an alternative secretion process, because neither cell lysis nor periplasmic leakage was observed when Cme produced a Pectobacterium carotovorum exoenzyme, and wild-type Cme cultured in minimal medium secreted 98% of Rso polygalacturonase, but 92% of this exoenzyme remained intracellular in T2SS mutants. We concluded that Cme has a functional T2SS despite lacking any abundant native T2SS substrates. The efficient secretion of three foreign exoenzymes by Cme is remarkable, but so too is the indication of an alternative secretion process in rich culture conditions. When not transiting the T2SS, we suggest that Rso exoenzymes are probably selectively packaged into outer membrane vesicles. Phylogenetic analysis of T2SS proteins supports the existence of at least three T2SS subfamilies, and we propose that Cme, as a representative of the Betaproteobacteria, could become a new useful model system for studying T2SS substrate specificity.
