TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gold, Vicki A. M.
A1  - Salzer, Ralf
A1  - Averhoff, Beate
A1  - Kühlbrandt, Werner
T1  - Structure of a type IV pilus machinery in the open and closed state
T2  - eLife
N2  - Proteins of the secretin family form large macromolecular complexes, which assemble in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. Secretins are major components of type II and III secretion systems and are linked to extrusion of type IV pili (T4P) and to DNA uptake. By electron cryo-tomography of whole Thermus thermophilus cells, we determined the in situ structure of a T4P molecular machine in the open and the closed state. Comparison reveals a major conformational change whereby the N-terminal domains of the central secretin PilQ shift by ∼30 Å, and two periplasmic gates open to make way for pilus extrusion. Furthermore, we determine the structure of the assembled pilus.
KW  - DNA transporter
KW  - Thermus thermophilus
KW  - bacterial secretion
KW  - biophysics
KW  - electron cryo-tomography
KW  - structural biology
KW  - subtomogram averaging
KW  - type IV pilus
Y1  - 2017
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/44059
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-440599
SN  - 2050-084X
N1  - Copyright Gold et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
VL  - 4
IS  - e07380
SP  - 1
EP  - 12
PB  - eLife Sciences Publications
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -