Structure Determination of Microtubules and Pili: Past, Present, and Future Directions.

ABSTRACT: Historically proteins that form highly polymeric and filamentous assemblies have been notoriously difficult to study using high resolution structural techniques. This has been due to several factors that include structural heterogeneity, their large molecular mass, and available yields. However, over the past decade we are now seeing a major shift towards atomic resolution insight and the study of more complex heterogenous samples and in situ/ex vivo examination of multi-subunit complexes. Although supported by developments in solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR) and computational approaches, this has primarily been due to advances in cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The study of eukaryotic microtubules and bacterial pili are good examples, and

SUBMITTER: Garnett JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8795688 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature