The ATPase SecA mediates post‐translational translocation of precursor proteins through the SecYEG channel of the bacterial inner membrane. We show that SecA, up to now considered to be a stable dimer, is actually in equilibrium with a small fraction of monomers. In the presence of membranes containing acidic phospholipids or in certain detergents, SecA completely dissociates into monomers. A synthetic signal peptide also affects dissociation into monomers. In addition, conversion into the monomeric state can be achieved by mutating a small number of residues in a dimeric and fully functional SecA fragment. This monomeric SecA fragment still maintains strong binding to SecYEG in the membrane as well as significant in vitro translocation activity. Together, the data suggest that the SecA dimer dissociates during protein translocation. Since SecA contains all characteristic motifs of a certain class of monomeric helicases, and since mutations in residues shared with the helicases abolish its translocation activity, SecA may function in a similar manner.

The ATPase SecA drives the post-translational translocation of proteins through the SecY channel in the bacterial inner membrane. SecA is a dimer that can dissociate into monomers under certain conditions. To address the functional importance of the monomeric state, we generated an Escherichia coli SecA mutant that is almost completely monomeric (>99%), consistent with predictions from the crystal structure of Bacillus subtilis SecA. In vitro, the monomeric derivative retained significant activity in various assays, and in vivo, it sustained 85% of the growth rate of wild type cells and reduced the accumulation of precursor proteins in the cytoplasm. Disulfide cross-linking in intact cells showed that mutant SecA is monomeric and that even its parental dimeric form is dissociated. Our results suggest that SecA functions as a monomer during protein translocation in vivo.Many bacterial proteins are transported post-translationally across the inner membrane by the Sec machinery, which consists of two essential components (1-4). One is the SecY complex, which forms a conserved heterotrimeric protein-conducting channel in the inner membrane (5, 6). The other is SecA, a cytoplasmic ATPase, which "pushes" substrate polypeptide chains through the SecY channel (7). SecA interacts not only with the SecY channel (8) but also with acidic phospholipids (9 -11) and with both the signal sequence and the mature part of a substrate protein (12). It also binds the chaperone SecB, which ushers some precursor proteins to SecA (8,13,14). When associated with the SecY complex, SecA undergoes repeated cycles of ATP-dependent conformational changes, which are linked to the movement of successive segments of a polypeptide chain through the channel (15,16). However the mechanism employed by SecA to translocate substrates polypeptide chains through the SecY channel remains largely unknown.An important issue concerning the function of SecA is its oligomeric state during translocation. SecA is a dimer in solution (17, 18), and previous work argued that this is its functional state (19). An x-ray structure of Bacillus subtilis SecA also indicates the existence of a dimer (7). However, recent evidence raises the possibility that SecA might actually function as a monomer; in solution, SecA dimers are in rapid equilibrium with monomers (20,21). Although the equilibrium favors dimers, it is shifted almost completely toward monomers in the presence of membranes containing acidic phospholipids or upon binding to the SecY complex (21). A synthetic signal peptide had a similar effect, although this result is controversial (22). A monomeric derivative of SecA containing six point mutations retained some in vitro translocation activity (21), but the low level of translocation precluded any firm conclusion. In addition, the previous results do not exclude models in which SecA cycles between monomeric and oligomeric states during the translocation of a polypeptide chain (22,23). Most importantly, the functional oligomeric state of SecA in vivo remains t...

During their biosynthesis, many proteins pass through the membrane via a hydrophilic channel formed by the heterotrimeric Sec61/SecY complex. Whether this channel forms at the interface of multiple copies of Sec61/SecY or is intrinsic to a monomeric complex, as suggested by the recently solved X-ray structure of the Methanococcus jannaschii SecY complex, is a matter of contention. By introducing a single cysteine at various positions in Escherichia coli SecY and testing its ability to form a disulfide bond with a single cysteine in a translocating chain, we provide evidence that translocating polypeptides pass through the center of the SecY complex. The strongest cross-links were observed with residues that would form a constriction in an hourglass-shaped pore. This suggests that the channel makes only limited contact with a translocating polypeptide, thus minimizing the energy required for translocation.