Fig. 8.

Approach for the bioinformatic detection of potential terminal targeting sequences in MCP proteins. For a given MCP protein, homologous sequences were retrieved and classified according to genomic context, with genomic proximity to a BMC shell protein (blue) taken to indicate a likely association with MCP function. For some proteins involved in MCP function (like the one illustrated in the hypothetical example), the BMC-proximal homologues encode amino-terminal sequence extensions of ≈20–35 residues, which are postulated to serve as MCP targeting sequences.