The bacterial translocon SecYEG opens upon ribosome binding

In cotranslational translocation, the ribosome funnel and the channel of the protein translocation complex SecYEG are aligned. For the nascent chain to enter the channel immediately after synthesis, a yet unidentified signal triggers displacement of the SecYEG sealing plug from the pore. Here we show that ribosome binding to the resting SecYEG channel triggers this conformational transition. The purified and reconstituted SecYEG channel opens to form a large ion-conducting channel which has the conductivity of the plug deletion mutant. The number of ion conducting channels inserted into the planar bilayer per fusion event roughly equals the number of SecYEG channels counted by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in a single proteoliposome. Thus, the open probability of the channel must be close to unity. To prevent the otherwise lethal proton leak, a closed post-translational conformation of the SecYEG complex bound to a ribosome must exist.