Conformation of protein secreted across bacterial outer membranes: a study of enterotoxin translocation from Vibrio cholerae.

The secretion of enterotoxin by Vibrio cholerae is punctuated by the transient entry of the toxin subunits into the periplasm. In this paper, we show that the subunits oligomerize into an assembled holotoxin within the periplasm prior to their secretion across the outer membrane. The rate of toxin assembly was studied by pulse-labeling cells with [35S]-methionine and then monitoring the turnover of radiolabeled subunits as they assembled within the periplasm. The subunits entered the periplasm as monomers and assembled into oligomers with a half-time of approximately 1 min. Since assembly was a rapid event compared to the rate of toxin efflux from the periplasm, which had a half-time of approximately 13 min, we conclude that all of the subunits that pass through the periplasm assemble before they traverse the outer membrane. The average concentration of subunit monomers and assembled holotoxin within the periplasm was calculated to be approximately 20 and approximately 260 micrograms/ml, respectively. This indicates that the periplasm is a suitably concentrated milieu where spontaneous toxin assembly can occur. Our findings suggest that protein movement across bacterial outer membranes, in apparent contrast to export across other biological membranes, involves translocation of polypeptides that have already folded into tertiary and even quaternary conformations.