Bacterial Type III Protein Secretion Systems

Samuel Wagner is a Professor of Infection Biology and Head of the Section of Cellular and Molecular Microbiology at the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine at the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany. He is also Principal Investigator of the excellence cluster ‘Controlling microbes to fight infections’ (CMFI) and of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at the partner-site Tübingen.His laboratory is mainly interested in the assembly, structure, and function of bacterial virulence-associated secretion systems, in particular of the type III secretion systems of Salmonella typhimurium and the type IV secretion system of Legionella pneumophila. His laboratory also develops novel anti-infective compounds targeting type III secretion systems.Jorge E. Galán is the Lucille P. Markey Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, Professor of Cell Biology, and Chair of the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale University’s School of Medicine. His research interests include the study of host-pathogen interactions, particularly the bacterial pathogens Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni. His research has contributed to our understanding of the structure and function of type III protein secretion machines, bacterial effectors proteins and bacterial toxins.

• Introduction.- Evolution of type III secretion systems.- Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms controlling type III secretion.- Assembly of type III secretion machines.- Structure of the type III secretion needle complex.- Structure and assembly of filamentous structures associated with type III secretion machines.- Structure and function of the type III secretion-associated sorting platform.- Molecular organization and assembly of the protein export apparatus.- Export mechanisms and energy transduction in type III secretion machines.- Needle length control and substrate switching in type III secretion machines.- The tip complex: sensing the host cell.- Chaperones and targeting mechanisms.