p14-3-3 proteins belong to a family of conserved molecules expressed in all eukaryotic cells that play an important role in a multitude of signalling pathways. 14-3-3 proteins bind either to phosphoserine/phosphothreonine residues or to sequence-specific non-phosphorylated motifs in more than 200 interaction partners [Pozuelo Rubio, Geraghty, Wong, Wood, Campbell, Morrice and Mackintosh (2004) Biochem. J. b379/b, 395–408]. These interactions result in cell-cycle regulation, apoptosis, stress responses, cell metabolism and malignant transformation. One example of a phosphorylation-independent interaction is the binding of 14-3-3 to ExoS (exoenzyme S), a bacterial ADP-ribosyltransferase toxin of iPseudomonas aeruginosa/i. In the present study, we have utilized additional biochemical and infection analyses to define further the structural basis of the interaction between ExoS and 14-3-3. An ExoS leucine-substitution mutant dramatically reduced the interaction potential with 14-3-3 suggesting that Leusup422/sup, Leusup423/sup, Leusup426/sup and Leusup428/sup of ExoS are important for its interaction with 14-3-3, its enzymatic activity and cytotoxicity. However, ExoS substitution mutants of residues that interact with 14-3-3 through an electrostatic interaction, such as Sersup416/sup, Hissup418/sup, Aspsup424/sup and Aspsup427/sup, showed no reduction in their interaction potential with 14-3-3. These ExoS substitution mutants were also as aggressive as wild-type ExoS at inducing cell death and to modify endogenous ExoS target within the cell. In conclusion, electrostatic interaction between ExoS and 14-3-3 via polar residues (Sersup416/sup, Hissup418/sup, Aspsup424/sup and Aspsup427/sup) appears to be of secondary importance. Thus the interaction between the ‘roof’ of the groove of 14-3-3 and ExoS relies more on hydrophobic interaction forces, which probably contributes to induce cell death after ExoS infection and activation./p
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