Towards a molecular picture of the archaeal cell surface.

ABSTRACT: Archaea produce various protein filaments with specialised functions. While some archaea produce only one type of filament, the archaeal model species Sulfolobus acidocaldarius generates four. These include rotary swimming propellers analogous to bacterial flagella (archaella), pili for twitching motility (Aap), adhesive fibres (threads), and filaments facilitating homologous recombination upon UV stress (UV pili). Here, we use cryo-electron microscopy to describe the structure of the S. acidocaldarius archaellum at 2.0 Å resolution, and update the structures of the thread and the Aap pilus at 2.7 Å and 2.6 Å resolution, respectively. We define features unique to archaella of the order Sulfolobales and compare their structure to those of Aap and threads in the context of the S-layer. We de

SUBMITTER: Gaines MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11607397 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature