DUFMech

All families / PF05638

PF05638: T6SS_HCP

Type VI secretion system effector, Hcp

Curation status
SEEDED
Seed status
EX DUF
Characterization
UNSCORED

Grounding

PF05638: Type VI secretion system effector, Hcp
IPR008514: integrated entry for Type VI secretion system effector, Hcp

Source description

HCP is a family of proteins which are expressed in up to 1000 copies in Gram-negative bacteria. Together these copies aggregate into a needle-like shaft or tube that will penetrate other bacteria via a puncturing protein attached to its head [InterPro reference PUB00075434] being part of the type VI secretion system [InterPro reference PUB00155386,InterPro reference PUB00054686]. Initially Hcp forms a hexameric structure with a central channel of 40 Angstroms. These hexamers pile up one on top of each other forming nanotubes resembling the gp19 tail phage tube [InterPro reference PUB00034462].

Evidence and references

Source descriptions and links are provenance, not independent functional validation.

Evidence counts: not scored.

Curated functional assertions

No curated functional assertions supplied.

Protein sequence examples

1 verified sequence example. FASTA

UniProtProtein / organismSequenceProvenance
P46855hcp1 family member YhhZ
Escherichia coli (strain K12)
392 aa; version 1
UniProt 2026_03
PTM REGISTRY MIRROR
6 sibling references

Pfam membership is not functional evidence. Whole-protein sequences do not establish domain boundaries. A coverage gap here is not absence from UniProt.

Sequences and metadata: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0.

Domain matches

No residue-level domain match evidence is available in this build. Structure and AlphaFold counters do not supply coordinates or establish function.

Snapshot counters

proteins
7,751
matches
7,781
proteomes
3,501
taxa
5,255
structures
22
alphafold models
4,734
domain architectures
36

Classification basis

pfam previous unknown name

No scoring reasons supplied.

Related Mech records

This family joined the worklist after the frozen cross-Mech scan, so other Mechs were not searched for it. Missing links here are not evidence that other Mechs lack it; rows shown come from mentions of a former DUF/UPF name.

No cross-Mech examples are present in the supplied snapshot.

Curation history and reviews

No retained curation events supplied.

No retained review supplied.

Record source

data/families/PF05638.yaml
Family YAML in this build

Download this family (JSON)

Status and evidence

Seed status
A name-based classification of frozen InterPro/Pfam metadata. UNKNOWN CANDIDATE means the metadata explicitly says the function is unknown. KNOWN HISTORICAL DUF means a DUF name matched without that wording; this heuristic is not proof of a known function and does not establish experimental characterization. EX DUF means Pfam renamed the family away from a DUF/UPF name, as recorded in Pfam's previous identifiers; a rename usually follows published work on some members but is naming history, not proof of function for every member. Some EX DUF families' current names or descriptions still say the function is unknown; their classification basis lists this, and scoring does not treat them as characterized. FALSE POSITIVE TEXT HIT means the naming rules did not match.
Characterization
A separate evidence-scoring result. UNSCORED means no score has been calculated; it is not evidence that the family lacks a known function. Missing scores are not negative evidence. PARTIALLY CHARACTERIZED has partial support; KNOWN HISTORICAL DUF can inherit the seed label or reflect a known-function signal. Neither label implies experimental validation.
Evidence counts
Source-specific signals, not unique proteins, publications, or confidence scores. Known counts Rhea reactions and experimentally supported GO molecular-function annotations. Partial counts functional/domain assignments. Context counts structural, environmental, orthology, interaction and neighborhood signals; context alone does not assign function. Repeated annotations may not be independent.
Curation status
Reported separately from seed classification and characterization. SNAPSHOT ONLY means no curated metadata was supplied for this build. SEEDED denotes a source-derived record, not an expert-reviewed functional claim.
Missing counts
Not available means the source did not supply that counter. A zero is a reported count. Not scored means evidence counts are unavailable.