Michael Kolbe
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
Title: The bacterial type 3 secretion system: Structure function analysis of a molecular syringe
Biography
Biography: Michael Kolbe
Abstract
Many different bacterial pathogens use protein secretion systems to transport effector molecule into host cells. Effector transport through these systems is essential to establish and maintain host cell infection. To understand host-pathogen interaction and pathogenesis during infection, we analyzed the structure and function of the type 3 secretion system (T3SS) of Gram-negative bacteria including Shigella flexneri and Salmonella typhimurium. The T3SS is a highly conserved virulence machinery of Gram-negative bacteria that initiates infection by subverting host cell defense mechanisms. Although great efforts were made to elucidate the structure of the T3SS in the last decades, the mechanistic details of the protein transport remains elusive. By using structural biology methods in combination with biochemical and cellular assays we analyzed the assembly and the architecture of the T3SS. Our studies explain the assembly of the T3SS needle and they provide a model of substrate molecule transport. We also developed tools to block substrate molecule transport through the T3SS channel which might help to characterize important steps in the secretion process.
