JCB logo
Keystone Symposia
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents

Published online 4 November 2002. doi:10.1083/jcb.200204144
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow PDF (Full Text)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Herskovits, A. A.
Right arrow Articles by Bibi, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Herskovits, A. A.
Right arrow Articles by Bibi, E.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2002/11/403 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 159, Number 3, 403-410


Report

Accumulation of endoplasmic membranes and novel membrane-bound ribosome–signal recognition particle receptor complexes in Escherichia coli

Anat A. Herskovits1, Eyal Shimoni2, Abraham Minsky3 and Eitan Bibi1

1 Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
2 Electron Microscopy Unit, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
3 Department of Organic Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Address correspondence to Eitan Bibi, Dept. of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Tel./Fax: 972-8-934-3464. E-mail: bcbibi{at}wicc.weizmann.ac.il

In Escherichia coli, ribosomes must interact with translocons on the membrane for the proper integration of newly synthesized membrane proteins, cotranslationally. Previous in vivo studies indicated that unlike the E. coli signal recognition particle (SRP), the SRP receptor FtsY is required for membrane targeting of ribosomes. Accordingly, a putative SRP-independent, FtsY-mediated ribosomal targeting pathway has been suggested (Herskovits, A.A., E.S. Bochkareva, and E. Bibi. 2000. Mol. Microbiol. 38:927–939). However, the nature of the early contact of ribosomes with the membrane, and the involvement of FtsY in this interaction are unknown. Here we show that in cells depleted of the SRP protein, Ffh or the translocon component SecE, the ribosomal targeting pathway is blocked downstream and unprecedented, membrane-bound FtsY–ribosomal complexes are captured. Concurrently, under these conditions, novel, ribosome-loaded intracellular membrane structures are formed. We propose that in the absence of a functional SRP or translocon, ribosomes remain jammed at their primary membrane docking site, whereas FtsY-dependent ribosomal targeting to the membrane continues. The accumulation of FtsY-ribosome complexes induces the formation of intracellular membranes needed for their quantitative accommodation. Our results with E. coli, in conjunction with recent observations made with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, raise the possibility that the SRP receptor–mediated formation of intracellular membrane networks is governed by evolutionarily conserved principles.

Key Words: E. coli; signal recognition particle; ribosome; protein targeting; membrane proteins


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents