Journal
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS
Volume 34, Issue 1, Pages 18-40Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00195.x
Keywords
relaxosome; relaxase; mobilization; conjugation; coupling protein; origin of transfer
Categories
Funding
- Canadian Institutes for Health Research [MT 11249]
- Austrian FWF [P18607, W901-B05]
- EU [FP6 ESR 019023]
- Spanish Ministry of Education [BFU2005-03477/BMC]
- RETICS research network, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spanish Ministry of Health [RD06/0008/1012]
- European VI Framework Program [LSHM-CT-2005_019023]
- US Public Health Service [NIH GM-37462]
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES [R01GM037462] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Bacterial conjugation in Gram-negative bacteria is triggered by a signal that connects the relaxosome to the coupling protein (T4CP) and transferosome, a type IV secretion system. The relaxosome, a nucleoprotein complex formed at the origin of transfer (oriT), consists of a relaxase, directed to the nic site by auxiliary DNA-binding proteins. The nic site undergoes cleavage and religation during vegetative growth, but this is converted to a cleavage and unwinding reaction when a competent mating pair has formed. Here, we review the biochemistry of relaxosomes and ponder some of the remaining questions about the nature of the signal that begins the process.
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