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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Saccharomyces cerevisiae harbors a family of GPI-anchored cell wall proteins for interaction with its environment. The flocculin Flo11, a major representative of these fungal adhesins, confers formation of different types of multicellular structures such as biofilms, flors, or filaments. To understand these environment-dependent growth phenotypes on a molecular level, we solved the crystal structure of the N-terminal Flo11A domain at 0.89-A resolution. Besides a hydrophobic apical region, the Flo11A domain consists of a beta sandwich of the fibronectin type III domain (FN3). We further show that homophilic Flo11-Flo11 interactions and heterophilic Flo11-plastic interactions solely depend on the Flo11A domain and are strongly pH dependent. These functions of Flo11A involve an apical region with its surface-exposed aromatic band, which is accompanied by acidic stretches. Together with electron microscopic reconstructions of yeast cell-cell contact sites, our data suggest that Flo11 acts as a spacer-like, pH-sensitive adhesin that resembles a membrane-tethered hydrophobin.

Interactions by the Fungal Flo11 Adhesin Depend on a Fibronectin Type III-like Adhesin Domain Girdled by Aromatic Bands.,Kraushaar T, Bruckner S, Veelders M, Rhinow D, Schreiner F, Birke R, Pagenstecher A, Mosch HU, Essen LO Structure. 2015 Jun 2;23(6):1005-17. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2015.03.021. Epub 2015, May 7. PMID:25960408^[1]

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