Coupled structure change of SecA and SecG revealed by the synthetic lethality of the secAcsR11 and ΔsecG::kan double mutant

An Escherichia coli strain carrying either the secAcsR11 or Δ secG :: kan mutation is unable to grow at low temperature owing to cold-sensitive protein translocation but grows normally at 37°C. However, introduction of the two mutations into the same cells caused a severe defect in protein translocation and the cells were unable to grow at any temperature examined, indicating that secG is essential for the secAcsR11 mutant. The mutant SecA (csSecA) was found to possess a single amino acid substitution in the precursor-binding region and was defective in the interaction with the precursor protein. Furthermore, the membrane insertion of SecA and the membrane topology inversion of SecG, both of which took place upon the initiation of protein translocation, were significantly retarded even at 37°C, when csSecA was used instead of the wild-type SecA. The insertion of the wild-type SecA was also significantly defective when SecG-depleted membrane vesicles were used in place of SecG-containing ones. No insertion of csSecA occurred into SecG-depleted membrane vesicles. Examination of in vitro protein translocation at 37°C revealed that SecG is essential for csSecA-dependent protein translocation. We conclude that SecG and SecA undergo a coupled structure change, that is critical for efficient protein translocation.