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- ************************************************
- * Hok/gef family cell toxic proteins signature *
- ************************************************
-
- In gram-negative bacteria there is a family of very small proteins which, when
- overexpressed, kill the cells from the inside by interfering with a vital
- function in the cell membrane [1]. The proteins known to belong to this family
- are:
-
- - Escherichia coli chromosomal protein gef.
- - Escherichia coli chromosomal protein relF.
- - Plasmid F protein flmA.
- - Plasmid F protein srnB.
- - Plasmid R1 protein hok.
- - Plasmids R16 and R483 protein pndA.
-
- These proteins consist of 50 to 68 amino acids. Their N-terminal section is
- hydrophobic and seems [2] to form a membrane-spanning region, while the C-
- terminal part is located in the periplasm and contains the toxic domain.
- Two cysteines are conserved, one in the N-terminal part and the other in the
- C-terminal part; in the gef protein, this second cysteine has been shown [2]
- to be involved in the formation of a disulfide bond between two monomers.
-
- As a signature pattern we selected the region that contains the end of the
- membrane-spanning region and ends with the second cysteine.
-
- -Consensus pattern: [LIVMA](4)-C-[LIVMA]-T-[LIVMA](2)-x(4)-[LIVM]-x-R-x(2)-L-C
- [The second C is involved in a disulfide bond]
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
- -Last update: December 1991 / First entry.
-
- [ 1] Gerdes K., Poulsen L.K., Thisted T., Nielsen A.K., Martinussen J.,
- Andreasen P.H.
- New Biol. 2:946-956(1991).
- [ 2] Poulsen L.K., Refn A., Molin S., Andersson P.
- Mol. Microbiol. 5:1627-1637(1991).
-