The inverse autotransporter family: Intimin, invasin and related proteins.

Intimin and invasin are adhesins and central virulence factors of attaching and effacing bacteria, such as enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli , and enteropathogenic Yersiniae , respectively. These proteins are prototypes of a large family of adhesins distributed widely in Gram-negative bacteria. It is now evident that this protein family represents a previously unrecognized autotransporter secretion system, termed type Ve secretion. In contrast to classical autotransport, where the transmembrane β-barrel domain or translocation unit is C-terminal to the extracellular region or passenger domain, type Ve-secreted proteins have an inverted topology with the passenger domain C-terminal to the translocation unit; hence the term inverse autotransporter. This minireview covers the recent advances in elucidating the structure and biogenesis of inverse autotransporters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]