CryoEM reveals the structure of an archaeal pilus involved in twitching motility.
Nat Commun
; 15(1): 5050, 2024 Jun 14.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38877033
ABSTRACT
Amongst the major types of archaeal filaments, several have been shown to closely resemble bacterial homologues of the Type IV pili (T4P). Within Sulfolobales, member species encode for three types of T4P, namely the archaellum, the UV-inducible pilus system (Ups) and the archaeal adhesive pilus (Aap). Whereas the archaellum functions primarily in swimming motility, and the Ups in UV-induced cell aggregation and DNA-exchange, the Aap plays an important role in adhesion and twitching motility. Here, we present a cryoEM structure of the Aap of the archaeal model organism Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. We identify the component subunit as AapB and find that while its structure follows the canonical T4P blueprint, it adopts three distinct conformations within the pilus. The tri-conformer Aap structure that we describe challenges our current understanding of pilus structure and sheds new light on the principles of twitching motility.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Sulfolobus acidocaldarius
/
Microscopia Crioeletrônica
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Commun
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido