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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Magnetotactic bacteria possess cellular compartments called magnetosomes that sense magnetic fields. Alignment of magnetosomes in the bacterial cell is necessary for their function, and this is achieved through anchoring of magnetosomes to filaments composed of the protein MamK. MamK is an actin homologue that polymerizes upon ATP binding. Here, we report the structure of the MamK filament at approximately 6.5 A, obtained by cryo-Electron Microscopy. This structure confirms our previously reported double-stranded, non-staggered architecture, and reveals the molecular basis for filament formation. While MamK is closest in sequence to the bacterial actin MreB, the longitudinal contacts along each MamK strand most closely resemble those of eukaryotic actin. In contrast, the cross-strand interface, with a surprisingly limited set of contacts, is novel among actin homologues and gives rise to the non-staggered architecture. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Structure of the Magnetosome-associated actin-like MamK filament at sub-nanometer resolution.,Bergeron JR, Hutto R, Ozyamak E, Hom N, Hansen J, Draper O, Byrne ME, Keyhani S, Komeili A, Kollman JM Protein Sci. 2016 Jul 8. doi: 10.1002/pro.2979. PMID:27391173^[1]

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