Publication Date:
2016-03-12
Description:
Type IVa pili are filamentous cell surface structures observed in many bacteria. They pull cells forward by extending, adhering to surfaces, and then retracting. We used cryo-electron tomography of intact Myxococcus xanthus cells to visualize type IVa pili and the protein machine that assembles and retracts them (the type IVa pilus machine, or T4PM) in situ, in both the piliated and nonpiliated states, at a resolution of 3 to 4 nanometers. We found that T4PM comprises an outer membrane pore, four interconnected ring structures in the periplasm and cytoplasm, a cytoplasmic disc and dome, and a periplasmic stem. By systematically imaging mutants lacking defined T4PM proteins or with individual proteins fused to tags, we mapped the locations of all 10 T4PM core components and the minor pilins, thereby providing insights into pilus assembly, structure, and function.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Chang, Yi-Wei -- Rettberg, Lee A -- Treuner-Lange, Anke -- Iwasa, Janet -- Sogaard-Andersen, Lotte -- Jensen, Grant J -- R01 GM094800B/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Mar 11;351(6278):aad2001. doi: 10.1126/science.aad2001. Epub 2016 Mar 10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. ; Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, 35043 Marburg, Germany. ; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. ; California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. jensen@caltech.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26965631" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Bacterial Adhesion
;
Cryoelectron Microscopy
;
Fimbriae, Bacterial/genetics/*ultrastructure
;
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
;
Models, Molecular
;
Mutation
;
Myxococcus xanthus/genetics/physiology/*ultrastructure
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
