2vy9

Publication Abstract from PubMed

A commonly used strategy by microorganisms to survive multiple stresses involves a signal transduction cascade that increases the expression of stress-responsive genes. Stress signals can be integrated by a multiprotein signaling hub that responds to various signals to effect a single outcome. We obtained a medium-resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction of the 1.8-megadalton "stressosome" from Bacillus subtilis. Fitting known crystal structures of components into this reconstruction gave a pseudoatomic structure, which had a virus capsid-like core with sensory extensions. We suggest that the different sensory extensions respond to different signals, whereas the conserved domains in the core integrate the varied signals. The architecture of the stressosome provides the potential for cooperativity, suggesting that the response could be tuned dependent on the magnitude of chemophysical insult.

Molecular architecture of the "stressosome," a signal integration and transduction hub.,Marles-Wright J, Grant T, Delumeau O, van Duinen G, Firbank SJ, Lewis PJ, Murray JW, Newman JA, Quin MB, Race PR, Rohou A, Tichelaar W, van Heel M, Lewis RJ Science. 2008 Oct 3;322(5898):92-6. PMID:18832644^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.