Identification of the YopE and YopH domains required for secretion and internalization into the cytosol of macrophages, using the cyaA gene fusion approach.

Pathogenic yersiniae secrete a set of antihost proteins, called Yops, by a type III secretion mechanism. Upon infection of cultured epithelial cells, extracellular Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia enterocolitica translocate cytotoxin YopE across the host cell plasma membrane. Several lines of evidence suggest that tyrosine phosphatase YopH follows the same pathway. We analyzed internalization of YopE and YopH into murine PU5-1.8 macrophages by using recombinant Y. enterocolitica producing truncated YopE and YopH proteins fused to a calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase. The YopE-cyclase and YopH-cyclase hybrids were readily secreted by Y. enterocolitica. The N-terminal domain required for secretion was not longer than 15 residues of YopE and 17 residues of YopH. Internalization into eukaryotic cells, revealed by cAMP production, only required the N-terminal 50 amino acid residues of YopE and the N-terminal 71 amino acid residues of YopH. YopE and YopH are thus modular proteins composed of a secretion domain, a translocation domain, and an effector domain. Translocation of YopE and YopH across host cell's membranes was also dependent on the secretion of YopB and YopD by the same bacterium. The cyclase fusion approach could be readily extended to study the fate of other proteins secreted by invasive bacterial pathogens.