Abstract
Type III secretion system (TTSS) is believed to have originally evolved from the flagellar export system and is now dispersed among a number of both animal‐ and plant‐interacting gram‐negative bacteria. The aim of much current research on TTSS is to understand the mechanisms involved in effector secretion/injection and what the effectors are doing inside the host cell. Bacterial pathogens use several different protein secretion pathways to export virulence proteins from the bacterial cytoplasm to their site of action. Chaperones bind to effector proteins in the bacterial cytosol and remain cytosolic following export of their cognate substrate. Secreted proteins exhibiting significant structural similarities to YopB and YopD are present in all TTSSs of animal pathogens but not plant pathogens. Secretion of LcrQ upon cell contact depletes LcrQ from the cytoplasmic compartment and triggers increased transcription of type III genes. Secretion and polymerization of PrgI are required to complete the assembly of the needle complex and type III export apparatus. Two flagellar components, FlhB, an inner membrane protein with a substantial C‐terminal cytoplasmic domain, and FliK, the secreted hook‐length control protein, are proposed to be involved in switches substrate specificity process. An important question is how far knowledge of flagellar biogenesis can be extrapolated to understand the structure and function of the type III export apparatus. It is obvious that there will be features unique to each system; however, the basic process of transporting substrates across the bacterial membranes appears to be relatively well conserved.