Nature Communications (Jul 2020)

The SecA motor generates mechanical force during protein translocation

  • Riti Gupta,
  • Dmitri Toptygin,
  • Christian M. Kaiser

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17561-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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The ATPase SecA drives Sec-dependent protein translocation across the bacterial plasma membrane. Here, the authors combine kinetic translocation measurements with single-molecule force spectroscopy and demonstrate that the SecA motor generates mechanical force to unfold and translocate preproteins.