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Cited by 17Biochemical and Structural CharacterizationAdvanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and ApplicationsBacterial Genetics and Biotechnology

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Structure of a heteropolymeric type 4 pilus from a monoderm bacterium

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Anger, Robin, Pieulle, Laetitia, Shahin, Meriam, Valette, Odile, Le Guenno, Hugo, Kosta, Artemis, Pelicic, Vladimir, Fronzes, Rémi·2023·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-42872-5PMC PMC10628169

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Abstract

Type 4 pili (T4P) are important virulence factors, which belong to a superfamily of nanomachines ubiquitous in prokaryotes, called type 4 filaments (T4F). T4F are defined as helical polymers of type 4 pilins. Recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) led to structures of several T4F, revealing that the long N-terminal α-helix (α1) – the trademark of pilins – packs in the centre of the filaments to form a hydrophobic core. In diderm bacteria – all available bacterial T4F structures are from diderm species – a portion of α1 is melted (unfolded). Here we report that this architecture is conserved in phylogenetically distant monoderm species by determining the structure of Streptococcus sanguinis T4P. Our 3.7 Å resolution cryo-EM structure of S. sanguinis heteropolymeric T4P and the resulting full atomic model including all minor pilins highlight universal features of bacterial T4F and have widespread implications in understanding T4F biology.

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Metadata

Authors
Anger, R., Pieulle, L., Shahin, M., Valette, O., Le Guenno, H., Kosta, A., Pelicic, V., & Fronzes, R.
Affiliations
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Imperial College London (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Pelicic, Vladimir
  • Fronzes, Rémi
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2023-11-06
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
7143-7143
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-023-42872-5
PMC
PMC10628169
OpenAlex
W4388445104
Cited by
17
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 1
FWCI
1.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Oskar-Bordeaux (Universite de Bordeaux) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
RCUK | Medical Research Council (MR/P022197/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Biochemical and Structural Characterization
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Structural Biology › Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
Keywords
Streptococcus sanguinis, N-terminal alpha-helix, hydrophobic core, minor pilin, bacterial virulence factors, cryo-EM structure
MeSH terms
Bacteria, Fimbriae, Bacterial, Polymers, Cryoelectron Microscopy, Fimbriae Proteins

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