Many substrates and functions of type II secretion: lessons learned from Legionella pneumophila

Abstract

Type II secretion is one of six systems that exist in Gram-negative bacteria for the purpose of secreting proteins into the extracellular milieu and/or into host cells. This article will review the various recent studies of Legionella pneumophila that have increased our appreciation of the numbers, types and novelties of proteins that can be secreted via the type II system, as well as the many ways in which type II secretion can promote bacterial physiology, growth, ecology, intracellular infection and virulence. In this context, type II secretion represents a potentially important target for industrial and biomedical applications.

Keywords:

• Gram-negative bacteria
• intracellular infection
• Legionella pneumophila
• Legionnaires‘ disease
• secreted enzyme
• sliding motility
• type II secretion
• virulence

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Reasearch in the N Cianciotto‘s laboratory is supported by NIH grants AI043987 and AI076 693. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

Reasearch in the N Cianciotto‘s laboratory is supported by NIH grants AI043987 and AI076 693. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.