Amino-terminal amino acid sequences of electron transfer proteins from Gram-negative bacteria as indicators of their cellular localization: the sulfate-reducing bacteria

Abstract Data are presented that all known periplasmic redox proteins from the sulfate reducing bacteria included in the genus, Desulfovibrio have aminoterminal (N-terminal) amino-acid sequences commonly found in other Gram-negative bacteria and are indicative of recognition sites for signal peptides. In contrast, none of the cytoplasmic redox proteins exhibited these unique N-terminal amino-acid sequences. It is proposed that the N-terminal amino-acid residues of a given protein can be used as an indicator of its cellular localization within the bacterial cell.