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Publication Abstract from PubMed

OmcZ nanowires produced by Geobacter species have high electron conductivity (>30 S cm(-1)). Of 111 cytochromes present in G. sulfurreducens, OmcZ is the only known nanowire-forming cytochrome essential for the formation of high-current-density biofilms that require long-distance (>10 microm) extracellular electron transport. However, the mechanisms underlying OmcZ nanowire assembly and high conductivity are unknown. Here we report a 3.5-A-resolution cryogenic electron microscopy structure for OmcZ nanowires. Our structure reveals linear and closely stacked haems that may account for conductivity. Surface-exposed haems and charge interactions explain how OmcZ nanowires bind to diverse extracellular electron acceptors and how organization of nanowire network re-arranges in different biochemical environments. In vitro studies explain how G. sulfurreducens employ a serine protease to control the assembly of OmcZ monomers into nanowires. We find that both OmcZ and serine protease are widespread in environmentally important bacteria and archaea, thus establishing a prevalence of nanowire biogenesis across diverse species and environments.

Structure of Geobacter cytochrome OmcZ identifies mechanism of nanowire assembly and conductivity.,Gu Y, Guberman-Pfeffer MJ, Srikanth V, Shen C, Giska F, Gupta K, Londer Y, Samatey FA, Batista VS, Malvankar NS Nat Microbiol. 2023 Feb;8(2):284-298. doi: 10.1038/s41564-022-01315-5. Epub 2023 , Feb 2. PMID:36732469^[1]

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