Microbiology 154 (2008), 1570-1583

Type I–V secretion systems in Gram-negative bacteria. Type I, type III and type IV SSs (left) are believed to transport proteins in one step from the bacterial cytosol to the bacterial cell surface and external medium. In the case of type III and type IV SSs, the proteins are transported from the bacterial cytoplasm to the target cell cytosol. One exception for type IV is the pertussis toxin, which is secreted in two steps and released into the extracellular medium. This exception is represented by the dotted arrow, which connects Sec and the type IV SS. Type II and type V SSs transport proteins in two steps. In that case, proteins are first transported to the periplasm via the Sec or Tat system before reaching the cell surface. Type Va is a putative autotransporter, indicating that the C-terminus of the protein forms the outer-membrane channel (cylinder) whereas the N-terminus (pink line) is exposed to the surface or released by proteolytic cleavage (scissors). C, bacterial cytoplasm; IM, bacterial inner membrane; P, bacterial periplasm; OM, bacterial outer membrane; ECM, extracellular milieu. PM (brown zone), host cell plasma membrane. When appropriate, coupling of ATP hydrolysis to transport is highlighted. Arrows indicate the route followed by transported proteins.

Blood, 15 November 2008, Vol. 112, No. 10, pp. 3939-3948

As a result of natural selection driven by severe forms of malaria, 1 in 6 humans in the world, more than 1 billion people, are affected by red cell abnormalities, making them the most common of the inherited disorders. The non-nucleated red cell is unique among human cell type in that the plasma membrane, its only structural component, accounts for all of its diverse antigenic, transport, and mechanical characteristics. Our current concept of the red cell membrane envisions it as a composite structure in which a membrane envelope composed of cholesterol and phospholipids is secured to an elastic network of skeletal proteins via transmembrane proteins. Structural and functional characterization of the many constituents of the red cell membrane, in conjunction with biophysical and physiologic studies, has led to detailed description of the way in which the remarkable mechanical properties and other important characteristics of the red cells arise, and of the manner in which they fail in disease states. Current studies in this very active and exciting field are continuing to produce new and unexpected revelations on the function of the red cell membrane and thus of the cell in health and disease, and shed new light on membrane function in other diverse cell types.