Abstract
The secretion-responsive regulation of
Escherichia coli secA
occurs by coupling its translation to the translation and secretion of an upstream regulator,
secM
(formerly geneX). We revise the translational start site for
secM
, defining a new signal peptide sequence with an extended amino-terminal region. Mutational studies indicate that certain atypical amino acyl residues within this extended region are critical for proper
secA
regulation.
