Channel Gating in a Post-Translational Protein Translocase

Abstract

Approximately one-third of the newly synthesized proteome enters the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a process crucial for generation of the endomembrane system in eukaryotic cells. The Sec61p (or bacterial SecYEG) complex is a conserved protein translocation machinery that mediates the integration or translocation of numerous proteins across the ER (or bacterial plasma) membrane. Now, a new cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of a supramolecular Sec61p complex (1) suggests how protein substrates with weak “signals” gate this translocation channel.

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