Excretion of cytoplasmic proteins (ECP) in Staphylococcus (A06)

• Subject Area: Structural Biology
• Term: from 2007 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 32152271

Many microorganisms and also eukaryotes excrete typical cytoplasmic proteins. As none of the classical secretion systems appears to be involved, this type of secretion has been referred to as "nonclassical protein secretion". It is assumed that ECP is caused by cell lysis. There are however mounting evidences that cell lysis is not the primary cause of ECP. We could show that in Staphylococcus aureus ECP occurs in the exponential growth phase, like Sec-system translocated proteins. We plan the identification of genes involved in ECP and would like to solve the mechanism of ECP.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 766: The Bacterial Cell Envelope: Structure, Function and Infection Interface
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Friedrich Götz