5d6h

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Gram-negative pathogens express fibrous adhesive organelles that mediate targeting to sites of infection. The major class of these organelles is assembled via the classical, alternative and archaic chaperone-usher pathways. Although non-classical systems share a wider phylogenetic distribution and are associated with a range of diseases, little is known about their assembly mechanisms. Here we report atomic-resolution insight into the structure and biogenesis of Acinetobacter baumannii Csu and Escherichia coli ECP biofilm-mediating pili. We show that the two non-classical systems are structurally related, but their assembly mechanism is strikingly different from the classical assembly pathway. Non-classical chaperones, unlike their classical counterparts, maintain subunits in a substantially disordered conformational state, akin to a molten globule. This is achieved by a unique binding mechanism involving the register-shifted donor strand complementation and a different subunit carboxylate anchor. The subunit lacks the classical pre-folded initiation site for donor strand exchange, suggesting that recognition of its exposed hydrophobic core starts the assembly process and provides fresh inspiration for the design of inhibitors targeting chaperone-usher systems.

Structural Insight into Archaic and Alternative Chaperone-Usher Pathways Reveals a Novel Mechanism of Pilus Biogenesis.,Pakharukova N, Garnett JA, Tuittila M, Paavilainen S, Diallo M, Xu Y, Matthews SJ, Zavialov AV PLoS Pathog. 2015 Nov 20;11(11):e1005269. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005269., eCollection 2015 Nov. PMID:26587649^[1]

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