Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.

Shuttling of proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm in mammalian cells is facilitated by the presence of nuclear localization signals (NLS) and nuclear export signals (NES), respectively. However, we have found that Tus, an E. coli replication fork arresting protein, contains separate sequences that...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stanislaw J Kaczmarczyk, Kalavathy Sitaraman, Thomas Hill, James L Hartley, Deb K Chatterjee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0008889&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849734957645168640
author Stanislaw J Kaczmarczyk
Kalavathy Sitaraman
Thomas Hill
James L Hartley
Deb K Chatterjee
author_facet Stanislaw J Kaczmarczyk
Kalavathy Sitaraman
Thomas Hill
James L Hartley
Deb K Chatterjee
author_sort Stanislaw J Kaczmarczyk
collection DOAJ
description Shuttling of proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm in mammalian cells is facilitated by the presence of nuclear localization signals (NLS) and nuclear export signals (NES), respectively. However, we have found that Tus, an E. coli replication fork arresting protein, contains separate sequences that function efficiently as NLS and NES in mammalian cell lines, as judged by cellular location of GFP-fusion proteins. The NLS was localized to a short stretch of 9 amino acids in the carboxy-terminus of Tus protein. Alterations of any of these basic amino acids almost completely abolished the nuclear targeting. The NES comprises a cluster of leucine/hydrophobic residues located within 21 amino acids at the amino terminus of Tus. Finally, we have shown that purified GFP-Tus fusion protein or GFP-Tus NLS fusion protein, when added to the culture media, was internalized very efficiently into mammalian cells. Thus, Tus is perhaps the first reported bacterial protein to possess both NLS and NES, and has the capability to transduce protein into mammalian cells.
format Article
id doaj-art-9952e3842d5b4317be3fc0c9c0e27c3f
institution DOAJ
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2010-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-9952e3842d5b4317be3fc0c9c0e27c3f2025-08-20T03:07:40ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032010-01-0151e888910.1371/journal.pone.0008889Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.Stanislaw J KaczmarczykKalavathy SitaramanThomas HillJames L HartleyDeb K ChatterjeeShuttling of proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm in mammalian cells is facilitated by the presence of nuclear localization signals (NLS) and nuclear export signals (NES), respectively. However, we have found that Tus, an E. coli replication fork arresting protein, contains separate sequences that function efficiently as NLS and NES in mammalian cell lines, as judged by cellular location of GFP-fusion proteins. The NLS was localized to a short stretch of 9 amino acids in the carboxy-terminus of Tus protein. Alterations of any of these basic amino acids almost completely abolished the nuclear targeting. The NES comprises a cluster of leucine/hydrophobic residues located within 21 amino acids at the amino terminus of Tus. Finally, we have shown that purified GFP-Tus fusion protein or GFP-Tus NLS fusion protein, when added to the culture media, was internalized very efficiently into mammalian cells. Thus, Tus is perhaps the first reported bacterial protein to possess both NLS and NES, and has the capability to transduce protein into mammalian cells.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0008889&type=printable
spellingShingle Stanislaw J Kaczmarczyk
Kalavathy Sitaraman
Thomas Hill
James L Hartley
Deb K Chatterjee
Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.
PLoS ONE
title Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.
title_full Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.
title_fullStr Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.
title_full_unstemmed Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.
title_short Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.
title_sort tus an e coli protein contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0008889&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT stanislawjkaczmarczyk tusanecoliproteincontainsmammaliannucleartargetingandexportingsignals
AT kalavathysitaraman tusanecoliproteincontainsmammaliannucleartargetingandexportingsignals
AT thomashill tusanecoliproteincontainsmammaliannucleartargetingandexportingsignals
AT jameslhartley tusanecoliproteincontainsmammaliannucleartargetingandexportingsignals
AT debkchatterjee tusanecoliproteincontainsmammaliannucleartargetingandexportingsignals