SecA-dependence of the translocation of a large periplasmic loop in the Escherichia coli MalF inner membrane protein is a function of sequence context.

We have analysed the translocation of a large periplasmic loop in the Escherichia coli MalF inner membrane protein when placed in different sequence contexts and under conditions when the function of the SecA protein is inhibited. The results show that the degree of SecA-dependence varies with sequence context: while translocation of the large loop in its normal context is only minimally affected by SecA inhibition, translocation is much more sensitive to SecA inhibition when the loop is placed in the context of other inner membrane proteins. Conversely, when the large MalF loop is replaced by segments from other proteins, translocation of those segments is again very sensitive to SecA inhibition. Thus, SecA-dependence is not an all-or-none phenomenon and is not only a simple function of, e.g. the length of a translocated segment or the hydrophobicity of the flanking transmembrane segments.