Helicobacter pylori est une bactérie qui colonise les cellules épithéliales gastriques humaines. Une des conséquences de cette infection est l'induction de cancers de l'estomac dans 1 à 3 % des cas, via l'injection d'une cytotoxine appelée CagA qui dérégule les voies de signalisation des cellules cibles. Cette injection, dont le mécanisme est encore inconnu, se fait grâce à un système de sécrétion de type IV (T4SS). Le pilus du cagT4SS est encore mal caractérisé. Les protéines CagI, CagL et CagH sont essentielles à la fonctionnalité du cagT4SS et à la biogenèse du pilus. De plus les trois protéines forment un sous-complexe dont les détails moléculaires n'ont pas encore été élucidés. Par conséquent mes études se sont focalisées sur ces trois protéines, leurs interactions et leur relation structure/fonction. J'ai mis en évidence que CagL interagissait directement avec CagI et CagH avec une affinité de l'ordre du micromolaire et que CagI et CagH n'interagissaient pas entre elles. La caractérisation de ces interactions a permis notamment d'identifier un complexe CagL-CagI. Afin de comprendre les détails structuraux de ce complexe, j'ai entrepris deux études structurales. La première consiste à déterminer les résidus de CagL impliqués dans l'interface d'interaction avec CagI par RMN. La seconde étude se focalise sur la détermination de la structure 3D du complexe CagI-CagL par microscopie électronique. Pour cela j'ai purifié le complexe CagI-CagL, monodisperse et stable en solution. Nous avons collecté des images du complexe par cryoEM et généré des classes 2D. Cette étude a permis pour la première fois de caractériser les interactions entre CagL-CagI-CagH et d'obtenir des informations structurales du complexe CagI-CagL / Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that colonizes the human stomach in half of the world population. It is estimated that 20% and 3% of patients develop peptic ulcer and gastric cancer, respectively. For these reasons, H. pylori was identified as a group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1994. The most virulent strains of H. pylori carry a type IV secretion system (Cag-T4SS) responsible for the injection of the oncoprotein CagA into gastric epithelial cells. One remarkable feature of the cagT4SS is its external pilus which composition is not clear. CagL, CagH and CagI proteins are critical components of the Cag-T4SS because these proteins are necessary for CagA translocation and are involved in pilus formation. Moreover CagL forms a sub-assembly with CagI and CagH but the molecular details of the complex are still to be discovered. Our objective is to better understand the molecular basis of CagLIH complex by interaction and structural study. CagL interacts with CagI and CagH with a with Kds of 5 µM. CagI does not interact with CagH. The structural study of CagL/CagI complex has been investigated by a two-pronged approach. First I have purified the CagL/CagI complex and collected cyo-EM micrographs. In parallel I have collected NMR spectra of CagL in the presence of CagI and identify the changes in the spectra to determine the residues involved in the interaction. In this study we have, for the first time, characterize the CagL-CagI-CagH interactions and obtained structural informations of the CagI-CagL complex

Type IV pili (T4P) are bacterial biomolecular machines that mediate interactions with the environment. Bacterial pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa require T4P for virulence. Significant progress has been made in recent years towards our understanding of how the proteins in the T4P system interact and function. While over 50 different proteins are involved in T4P biogenesis, the two outer membrane components, PilF and PilQ, are the focus of the work presented in this thesis. PilF was found to be required for assembly of PilQ into secretins, the outer membrane channels through which T4P fibers exit the cell. The functions of PilF are consistent with a family of lipoproteins called pilotins, to which the roles of secretin assembly and/or localization are attributed. Structure determination by X-ray crystallography revealed that PilF is composed of six tetratricopeptide (TPR) protein-protein interaction motifs. Functional mapping of PilF indicated that a hydrophobic groove on the first TPR is involved in secretin assembly. Secretin localization correlated directly with that of PilF. The effects of pilF mutations and the structural data led to the hypothesis that PilF and PilQ interact directly. We propose that PilF and PilQ interact at the inner membrane and are co-transported to the outer membrane by the Lol lipoprotein sorting system. PilQ multimerizes into secretins upon outer membrane insertion and aligns with inner membrane T4P proteins to form a complete molecular machine. PilQ mutagenesis mapping showed that: the N-terminal “system specific” domain is important but not essential for secretin function; the central “multimerization” domain is critical for secretin assembly and function; and the C-terminal tail implicated in secretin-pilotin interactions is dispensable for PilQ function. Purified PilQ enabled copurification of PilF from cell lysates, providing the first evidence for their interaction. These data provide a framework for future exploration of T4P assembly in P. aeruginosa.

Type IV pili (T4P) are bacterial biomolecular machines that mediate interactions with the environment. Bacterial pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa require T4P for virulence. Significant progress has been made in recent years towards our understanding of how the proteins in the T4P system interact and function. While over 50 different proteins are involved in T4P biogenesis, the two outer membrane components, PilF and PilQ, are the focus of the work presented in this thesis. PilF was found to be required for assembly of PilQ into secretins, the outer membrane channels through which T4P fibers exit the cell. The functions of PilF are consistent with a family of lipoproteins called pilotins, to which the roles of secretin assembly and/or localization are attributed. Structure determination by X-ray crystallography revealed that PilF is composed of six tetratricopeptide (TPR) protein-protein interaction motifs. Functional mapping of PilF indicated that a hydrophobic groove on the first TPR is involved in secretin assembly. Secretin localization correlated directly with that of PilF. The effects of pilF mutations and the structural data led to the hypothesis that PilF and PilQ interact directly. We propose that PilF and PilQ interact at the inner membrane and are co-transported to the outer membrane by the Lol lipoprotein sorting system. PilQ multimerizes into secretins upon outer membrane insertion and aligns with inner membrane T4P proteins to form a complete molecular machine. PilQ mutagenesis mapping showed that: the N-terminal “system specific” domain is important but not essential for secretin function; the central “multimerization” domain is critical for secretin assembly and function; and the C-terminal tail implicated in secretin-pilotin interactions is dispensable for PilQ function. Purified PilQ enabled copurification of PilF from cell lysates, providing the first evidence for their interaction. These data provide a framework for future exploration of T4P assembly in P. aeruginosa.