Minor pilin subunits are conserved in<i>Vibrio cholerae</i>type IV pili

Toma, Claudia; Kuroki, Hiromi; Nakasone, Noboru; Ehara, Masahiko; Iwanaga, Masaaki

doi:10.1111/j.1574-695x.2002.tb00569.x

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Many bacterial species rely on type IV pili, long polymeric semi-flexible filaments protruding out of the cell membranes, to attach to substrates [9,10] and to interact with other bacterial cells. A few prominent examples of cells possessing pili and being involved in dangerous microbial infections are Pseudomonas aeruginosa [11], Neisseria meningitidis [12] and Vibrio cholerae [13]. A single pilus exhibits phases of elongation and retraction that produce pulling forces once a pilus is attached; a mechanism reminiscent of a grappling hook [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiscale modeling of bacterial colonies: how pili mediate the dynamics of single cells and cellular aggregates

et al. 2017

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Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the causative agent of one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, gonorrhea. Over the past two decades there has been an alarming increase of reported gonorrhea cases where the bacteria were resistant to the most commonly used antibiotics thus prompting for alternative antimicrobial treatment strategies. The crucial step in this and many other bacterial infections is the formation of microcolonies, agglomerates consisting of up to several thousands of cells. The attachment and motility of cells on solid substrates as well as the cell–cell interactions are primarily mediated by type IV pili, long polymeric filaments protruding from the surface of cells. While the crucial role of pili in the assembly of microcolonies has been well recognized, the exact mechanisms of how they govern the formation and dynamics of microcolonies are still poorly understood. Here, we present a computational model of individual cells with explicit pili dynamics, force generation and pili–pili interactions. We employ the model to study a wide range of biological processes, such as the motility of individual cells on a surface, the heterogeneous cell motility within the large cell aggregates, and the merging dynamics and the self-assembly of microcolonies. The results of numerical simulations highlight the central role of pili generated forces in the formation of bacterial colonies and are in agreement with the available experimental observations. The model can quantify the behavior of multicellular bacterial colonies on biologically relevant temporal and spatial scales and can be easily adjusted to include the geometry and pili characteristics of various bacterial species. Ultimately, the combination of the microbiological experimental approach with the in silico model of bacterial colonies might provide new qualitative and quantitative insights on the development of bacterial infections and thus pave the way to new antimicrobial treatments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiscale modeling of bacterial colonies: how pili mediate the dynamics of single cells and cellular aggregates

et al. 2017

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“…Despite the variety of type IV pilin proteins, which include minor pilins with multidomain headgroups (8,9), a given pilin gene within a given species is typically well-conserved with only the major pilin showing significant variation (12). Sequence diversity in the major pilin has typically been attributed to diversifying selection (13).…”

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confidence: 99%

The structure of PilA from Acinetobacter baumannii AB5075 suggests a mechanism for functional specialization in Acinetobacter type IV pili

Ronish

Lillehoj

Fields

et al. 2019

Journal of Biological Chemistry

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Type IV pili (T4P) are bacterial appendages composed of protein subunits, called pilins, noncovalently assembled into helical fibers. T4P are essential, in many bacterial species, for processes as diverse as twitching motility, natural competence, biofilm or microcolony formation, and host cell adhesion. The genes encoding type IV pili are found universally in the Gram-negative, aerobic, nonflagellated, and pathogenic coccobacillus Acinetobacter baumannii, but there is considerable variation in PilA, the major protein subunit, both in amino acid sequence and in glycosylation patterns. Here we report the X-ray crystal structure of PilA from AB5075, a recently characterized, highly virulent isolate, at 1.9 Å resolution and compare it to homologues from A. baumannii strains ACICU and BIDMC57, which are C-terminally glycosylated. These structural comparisons revealed that PilA AB5075 exhibits a distinctly electronegative surface chemistry. To understand the functional consequences of this change in surface electrostatics, we complemented a ⌬pilA knockout strain with divergent pilA genes from ACICU, BIDMC57, and AB5075. The resulting transgenic strains showed differential twitching motility and biofilm formation while maintaining the ability to adhere to epithelial cells. PilA AB5075 and PilA ACICU , although structurally similar, promote different characteristics, favoring twitching motility and biofilm formation, respectively. These results support a model in which differences in pilus electrostatics affect the equilibrium of microcolony formation, which in turn alters the balance between motility and biofilm formation in Acinetobacter. 2 The abbreviations used are: T4P, type IV pili; CLSM, confocal laser scanning microscopy.

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“…However, despite the wide variety of minor pilin structures, including DNA-binding subunits, within a given species, minor pilin subunits appear to be universally more conserved than the major subunit ( 24 , 40 , 92 , 93 ). That is, the pattern we observe for PilJ, PilW, and PilA1 is replicated in other T4P system; the major subunit has the least conserved amino acid sequence within a given taxonomic group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognition of extracellular DNA by type IV pili promotes biofilm formation by Clostridioides difficile

Ronish

Sidner

et al. 2022

Journal of Biological Chemistry

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Minor pilin subunits are conserved inVibrio choleraetype IV pili

Cited by 14 publications

References 28 publications

Multiscale modeling of bacterial colonies: how pili mediate the dynamics of single cells and cellular aggregates

Multiscale modeling of bacterial colonies: how pili mediate the dynamics of single cells and cellular aggregates

The structure of PilA from Acinetobacter baumannii AB5075 suggests a mechanism for functional specialization in Acinetobacter type IV pili

Recognition of extracellular DNA by type IV pili promotes biofilm formation by Clostridioides difficile

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