8g52

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Bacterial acquisition of metabolites is largely facilitated by transporters with unique substrate scopes. The tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic (TRAP) transporters comprise a large family of bacterial proteins that facilitate the uptake of a variety of small molecules. It has been reported that some TRAP systems encode a fourth protein, the T component. The T-component, or TatT, is predicted to be a periplasmic-facing lipoprotein that enables the uptake of metabolites from the outer membrane. However, no substrates were revealed for any TatT and their functional role(s) remained enigmatic. We recently identified a homolog in Methylococcus capsulatus that binds to sterols, and herein, we report two additional homologs that demonstrate a preference for long-chain fatty acids. Our bioinformatics, quantitative analyses of protein-ligand interactions, and high-resolution crystal structures suggest that TatTs might facilitate the trafficking of hydrophobic or lipophilic substrates and represent a new class of bacterial lipid and fatty acid transporters.

Structures and mechanisms of a novel bacterial transport system for fatty acids.,Zhai L, Chou JC, Oo H, Dassama L Chembiochem. 2023 May 12:e202300156. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202300156. PMID:37170829^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.