Translocon

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The translocon (also known as a translocator or translocation channel) is a complex of proteins associated with the translocation of polypeptides across membranes. [1] In eukaryotes the term translocon most commonly refers to the complex that transports nascent polypeptides with a targeting signal sequence into the interior (cisternal or lumenal) space of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) from the cytosol. This translocation process requires the protein to cross a hydrophobic lipid bilayer. The same complex is also used to integrate nascent proteins into the membrane itself (membrane proteins). In prokaryotes, a similar protein complex transports polypeptides across the (inner) plasma membrane or integrates membrane proteins. [2] In either case, the protein complex are formed from Sec proteins (Sec: secretory), with the heterotrimeric Sec61 being the channel. [3] In prokaryotes, the homologous channel complex is known as SecYEG. [4]

Contents

This article focuses on the cell's native translocons, but pathogens can also assemble other translocons in their host membranes, allowing them to export virulence factors into their target cells. [5]

Central channel

The translocation channel is a hetero-trimeric protein complex called SecYEG in prokaryotes and Sec61 in eukaryotes. [6] It consists of the subunits SecY, SecE, and SecG. The structure of this channel, in its idle state, has been solved by X-ray crystallography in archaea. [4] SecY is the large pore subunit. In a side view, the channel has an hourglass shape, with a funnel on each side. The extracellular funnel has a little "plug" formed out of an alpha-helix. In the middle of the membrane is a construction, formed from a pore ring of six hydrophobic amino acids that project their side chains inwards. During protein translocation, the plug is moved out of the way, and a polypeptide chain is moved from the cytoplasmic funnel, through the pore ring, the extracellular funnel, into the extracellular space. Hydrophobic segments of membrane proteins exit sideways through the lateral gate into the lipid phase and become membrane-spanning segments. [4]

In bacteria, SecYEG forms a complex with SecDF, YajC and YidC. [7] [8] In eukaryotes, Sec61 forms a complex with the oligosaccharyl transferase complex, the TRAP complex, and the membrane protein TRAM (possible chaperone). For further components, such as signal peptidase complex and the SRP receptor it is not clear to what extent they only associate transiently to the translocon complex. [9]

Translocation

The channel allows peptides to move in either direction, so additional systems in the translocon are required to move the peptide in a specific direction. There are three types of translocation: cotranslational translocation that happens as translation happens, and two types of post-translational translocation that happens after translation, each seen in eukaryotes and bacteria. While eukaryotes unfold the protein with BiP and use other complexes to transport the peptide, bacteria use the SecA ATPase. [10]

Co-translational

ER translocon complex. Many protein complexes are involved in protein synthesis. The actual production takes place in the ribosomes (yellow and light blue). Through the ER translocon (green: Sec61, blue: TRAP complex, and red: oligosaccharyl transferase complex) the newly synthesized protein is transported across the membrane (gray) into the interior of the ER. Sec61 is the protein-conducting channel and the OST adds sugar moieties to the nascent protein. OST PM-1.jpg
ER translocon complex. Many protein complexes are involved in protein synthesis. The actual production takes place in the ribosomes (yellow and light blue). Through the ER translocon (green: Sec61, blue: TRAP complex, and red: oligosaccharyl transferase complex) the newly synthesized protein is transported across the membrane (gray) into the interior of the ER. Sec61 is the protein-conducting channel and the OST adds sugar moieties to the nascent protein.

In co-translational translocation, the translocon associates with the ribosome so that a growing nascent polypeptide chain is moved from the ribosome tunnel into the SecY channel. The translocon (translocator) acts as a channel through the hydrophobic membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum (after the SRP has dissociated and translation is continued). The emerging polypeptide is threaded through the channel as an unfolded string of amino acids, potentially driven by a Brownian Ratchet. Once translation is finished, a signal peptidase cleaves off the short signal peptide from the nascent protein, leaving the polypeptide free in the interior of the endoplasmic reticulum. [11] [12]

In eukaryotes, proteins due to be translocated to the endoplasmic reticulum are recognized by the signal-recognition particle (SRP), which halts translation of the polypeptide by the ribosome while it attaches the ribosome to the SRP receptor on the endoplasmic reticulum. This recognition event is based upon a specific N-terminal signal sequence that is in the first few codons of the polypeptide to be synthesised. [10] Bacteria also use an SRP, together with a chaperone YidC that is similar to the eukaryote TRAM. [13] [10]

The translocon can also translocate and integrate membrane proteins in the correct orientation into the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum. The mechanism of this process is not fully understood, but involves the recognition and processing by the translocon of hydrophobic stretches in the amino acid sequence which are destined to become transmembrane helices. Closed by stop-transfer sequences and opened by embedded signal sequences, the plug alters between its open and closed states to place helices in different orientations. [10]

Post-translational

In eukaryotes, post-translational translocation depends on BiP and other complexes, including the SEC62/SEC63 integral membrane protein complex. In this mode of translocation, Sec63 helps BiP hydrolyze ATP, which then binds to the peptide and "pulls" it out. This process is repeated for other BiP molecules until the entire peptide has been pulled through. [10]

In bacteria, the same process is done by a "pushing" ATPase known as SecA, sometimes assisted by the SecDF complex on the other side responsible for pulling. [14] The SecA ATPase uses a "push-and-slide" mechanism to move a polypeptide through the channel. In the ATP-bound state, SecA interacts through a two-helix finger with a subset of amino acids in a substrate, pushing them (with ATP hydrolysis) into the channel. The interaction is then weakened as SecA enters the ADP-bound state, allowing the polypeptide chain to slide passively in either direction. SecA then grabs a further section of the peptide to repeat the process. [10]

The ER-retrotranslocon

Translocators can also move polypeptides (such as damaged proteins targeted for proteasomes) from the cisternal space of the endoplasmic reticulum to the cytosol. ER-proteins are degraded in the cytosol by the 26S proteasome, a process known as endoplasmic-reticulum-associated protein degradation, and therefore have to be transported by an appropriate channel. This retrotranslocon is still enigmatic.

It was initially believed that the Sec61 channel is responsible for this retrograde transport, implying that transport through Sec61 is not always unidirectional but also can be bidirectional. [15] However, the structure of Sec61 does not support this view and several different proteins have been suggested to be responsible for transport from the ER lumen into the cytosol. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

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  7. ↑ Duong F, Wickner W (May 1997). "Distinct catalytic roles of the SecYE, SecG and SecDFyajC subunits of preprotein translocase holoenzyme". The EMBO Journal. 16 (10): 2756–68. doi:10.1093/emboj/16.10.2756. PMC   1169885 . PMID   9184221.
  8. ↑ Scotti PA, Urbanus ML, Brunner J, de Gier JW, von Heijne G, van der Does C, et al. (February 2000). "YidC, the Escherichia coli homologue of mitochondrial Oxa1p, is a component of the Sec translocase". The EMBO Journal. 19 (4): 542–9. doi:10.1093/emboj/19.4.542. PMC   305592 . PMID   10675323.
  9. ↑ Pfeffer S, Dudek J, Gogala M, Schorr S, Linxweiler J, Lang S, et al. (2014). "Structure of the mammalian oligosaccharyl-transferase complex in the native ER protein translocon". Nature Communications. 5 (5): 3072. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.3072P. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4072 . PMID   24407213.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Osborne AR, Rapoport TA, van den Berg B (2005). "Protein translocation by the Sec61/SecY channel". Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology. 21: 529–50. doi:10.1146/annurev.cellbio.21.012704.133214. PMID   16212506.
  11. ↑ Simon SM, Blobel G (May 1991). "A protein-conducting channel in the endoplasmic reticulum". Cell. 65 (3): 371–80. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(91)90455-8. PMID   1902142. S2CID   33241198.
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  13. ↑ Zhu L, Kaback HR, Dalbey RE (September 2013). "YidC protein, a molecular chaperone for LacY protein folding via the SecYEG protein machinery". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 288 (39): 28180–94. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M113.491613 . PMC   3784728 . PMID   23928306.
  14. ↑ Lycklama A, Nijeholt JA, Driessen AJ (April 2012). "The bacterial Sec-translocase: structure and mechanism". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 367 (1592): 1016–28. doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0201. PMC   3297432 . PMID   22411975.
  15. ↑ Römisch K (December 1999). "Surfing the Sec61 channel: bidirectional protein translocation across the ER membrane". Journal of Cell Science. 112 ( Pt 23) (23): 4185–91. doi:10.1242/jcs.112.23.4185. PMID   10564637.
  16. ↑ Hampton RY, Sommer T (August 2012). "Finding the will and the way of ERAD substrate retrotranslocation". Current Opinion in Cell Biology. 24 (4): 460–6. doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2012.05.010. PMID   22854296.
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