TAT hitchhiker selection expanded to folding helpers, multimeric interactions and combinations with protein fragment complementation.

The twin-arginine translocation (TAT) pathway of the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane mediates translocation only of proteins that accomplished a native-like conformation. We deploy this feature in modular selection systems for directed evolution, in which folding helpers as well as dimeric or oligomeric protein-protein interactions enable TAT-dependent translocation of the resistance marker TEM β-lactamase (βL). Specifically, we demonstrate and analyze selection of (i) enhancers for folding by direct TAT translocation selection of a target protein interposed between the TorA signal sequence and βL, (ii) dimeric or oligomeric protein-protein interactions by hitchhiker translocation (HiT) selection of proteins fused to the TorA signal sequence and to the βL, respectively and (iii) heterotrimeric protein-protein interactions by combining HiT with protein fragment complementation selection of proteins fused to two split βL fragments and TorA, respectively.

Mechanism of disruption of the Amt-GlnK complex by P(II)-mediated sensing of 2-oxoglutarate.

GlnK proteins regulate the active uptake of ammonium by Amt transport proteins by inserting their regulatory T-loops into the transport channels of the Amt trimer and physically blocking substrate passage. They sense the cellular nitrogen status through 2-oxoglutarate, and the energy level of the cell by binding both ATP and ADP with different affinities. The hyperthermophilic euryarchaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus possesses three Amt proteins, each encoded in an operon with a GlnK ortholog.

Homologous gene clusters of nicotine catabolism, including a new ω-amidase for α-ketoglutaramate, in species of three genera of Gram-positive bacteria.

Gram-positive soil bacteria Arthrobacter nicotinovorans, Nocardioides sp. JS614 and Rhodococcus opacus were shown to contain similarly organized clusters of homologous genes for nicotine catabolism. An uncharacterized gene of a predicted nitrilase within these gene clusters was cloned from A.