Bacterial type iv secretion systems, methods of use for in vivo dna delivery, and method of engineering

Abstract

A system for delivering a substrate to a target host cell includes a synthetic Helicobacter pyloricag type IV secretion system (cag T4SS) synthesized within an avirulent bacterial cell and one or more bioactive molecules of interest. The described system includes one or more artificial Helicobacter pyloricag T4SS operons, in embodiments selected from the group consisting of: CagA, CagC, CadD, CagE, CagF, CagG, CagH, CagI, CagM, CagN, CagO, CagP, CagQ, CagS, CagT, CagU, CagV, CagW, CagX, CagY, CagZ, Cag1, Cag2, Cag3, Cag4, Cag5, Cag-alpha. The one or more artificial T4SS operons, when introduced into the avirulent bacterial cell, result in a self-assembling, bi-membrane spanning secretion channel complex adapted to translocate the bioactive molecule to the target host cell. The system is adapted to translocate the substrate to a target host cell, which substrate may be a polynucleotide or protein of interest, DNA, RNA, DNA-RNA hybrids, DNA-encoded molecules, and others.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.