What is a type III secretion system and what role

does it have in bacterial interactions with eukaryotic

cells?
Type III secretion systems (T3SSs) are complex bacterial
structures (hollow channel and a tip, which forms a pore in the
host cell membrane upon contact). that provide gram-negative
pathogens with a unique virulence mechanism enabling them
to inject bacterial effector proteins directly into the host cell
cytoplasm. they are not a true secretion system as they do not
export bacterial products into the surrounding environment,
but are an effective system that delivers specific virulence
factors such as toxins directly into the cytoplasm of the host
cell. The translocated proteins are termed “effectors,” since
they are the virulence factors that effect the changes in the
host cells, allowing the invading pathogen to colonize, multiply.
effector proteins directly injected into eukaryotic cells by t3ss
Once within the cytoplasm, many T3SS effectors target or
mimic structure and/or function of eukaryotic proteins that
modulate eukaryotic cell function thus play key roles in
colonization, invasion, survival and virulence which lead to
infection