Donor-strand exchange in chaperone-assisted pilus assembly proceeds through a concerted beta strand displacement mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Gram-negative pathogens commonly use the chaperone-usher pathway to assemble adhesive multisubunit fibers on their surface. In the periplasm, subunits are stabilized by a chaperone that donates a beta strand to complement the subunits' truncated immunoglobulin-like fold. Pilus assembly proceeds through a "donor-strand exchange" (DSE) mechanism whereby this complementary beta strand is replaced by the N-terminal extension (Nte) of an incoming pilus subunit. Using X-ray crystallography and real-time electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), we demonstrate that DSE requires the formation of a transient ternary complex between the chaperone-subunit complex and the Nte of the next subunit to be assembled. The process is crucially dependent on an initiation site (the P5 pocket) needed

SUBMITTER: Remaut H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7617774 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature