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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Microbiol. 2012 Jan 3;15(2):189–193. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2011.12.007

Figure 1. The OMP assembly pathway in E. coli.

Figure 1

Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) are synthesized as unfolded precursors in the cytoplasm and translocated across the inner membrane (IM) via the Sec translocase. Once in the periplasm, chaperones recognize unfolded OMPs and prevent them from forming misfolded aggregates. The multi-subunit Bam complex folds and inserts OMPs into the outer membrane (OM).