Architecture of the Sap S-layer of <i>Bacillus anthracis</i> revealed by integrative structural biology.

ABSTRACT: Bacillus anthracis is a spore-forming gram-positive bacterium responsible for anthrax, an infectious disease with a high mortality rate and a target of concern due to bioterrorism and long-term site contamination. The entire surface of vegetative cells in exponential or stationary growth phase is covered in proteinaceous arrays called S-layers, composed of Sap or EA1 protein, respectively. The Sap S-layer represents an important virulence factor and cell envelope support structure whose paracrystalline nature is essential for its function. However, the spatial organization of Sap in its lattice state remains elusive. Here, we employed cryoelectron tomography and subtomogram averaging to obtain a map of the Sap S-layer from tubular polymers that revealed a conformational switch betwe

SUBMITTER: Sogues A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11665858 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature