A specificity-enhancing factor for the ClpXP degradation machine

Science. 2000 Sep 29;289(5488):2354-6. doi: 10.1126/science.289.5488.2354.

Abstract

Events that stall bacterial protein synthesis activate the ssrA-tagging machinery, resulting in resumption of translation and addition of an 11-residue peptide to the carboxyl terminus of the nascent chain. This ssrA-encoded peptide tag marks the incomplete protein for degradation by the energy-dependent ClpXP protease. Here, a ribosome-associated protein, SspB, was found to bind specifically to ssrA-tagged proteins and to enhance recognition of these proteins by ClpXP. Cells with an sspB mutation are defective in degrading ssrA-tagged proteins, demonstrating that SspB is a specificity-enhancing factor for ClpXP that controls substrate choice.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphatases / metabolism*
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Endopeptidase Clp
  • Escherichia coli / enzymology
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Luminescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Mutation
  • Oligopeptides / chemistry
  • Oligopeptides / genetics
  • Oligopeptides / metabolism*
  • Operon
  • Ribosomes / metabolism
  • Serine Endopeptidases / metabolism*
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Oligopeptides
  • SspA protein, E coli
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Serine Endopeptidases
  • ClpXP protease, E coli
  • Endopeptidase Clp
  • Adenosine Triphosphatases