Structure of F-Pili: Reassessment of the symmetry

Marvin, D.A.; Folkhard, W.

doi:10.1016/0022-2836(86)90267-6

Cited by 35 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…One model consists of stacked F-pilin pentamers; successive pentamers are translated 1.28 nm along the filament axis and rotated 29Њ (Marvin and Folkhard, 1986). An alternative model (Folkhard et al, 1979;Marvin and Folkhard, 1986) has adjacent F-pilin subunits following a helical path, with a rise/subunit of 0.24 nm and a pitch of 1.28 nm. These models differ only subtly in structural terms, though the difference could be very important functionally.…”

Section: General Structural Features Of F-pilimentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a structural biology of bacterial conjugation

Silverman

1997

Molecular Microbiology

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SummaryHorizontal DNA transfer among bacteria (conjugation) requires the formation of secure intercellular contacts before DNA transfer can occur. The formation of such contacts among Gram-negative bacteria is mediated by conjugative pili. Like other pili, conjugative pili are filaments extending from the surface of donor cells. They are composed, in so far as is known, entirely of conjugative pilin subunits. Here, we review the structure of F-pilin, the subunit of which F-pili are composed. We emphasize recent studies suggesting a specific domain organization for F-pilin and present a model of how these domains might be arranged in filament subunits.

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Section: General Structural Features Of F-pilimentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a structural biology of bacterial conjugation

Silverman

1997

Molecular Microbiology

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“…Some general structural features of F pili have been inferred from biophysical analyses (7,18). In the currently preferred model (18,21), the filament consists of stacked F-pilin pentamers in which the F-pilin subunits are related by a fivefold rotation axis identical with the axis of the filament.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the currently preferred model (18,21), the filament consists of stacked F-pilin pentamers in which the F-pilin subunits are related by a fivefold rotation axis identical with the axis of the filament. With respect to its neighbors, each pentamer is rotated about the helix axis by about 290 and axially displaced by about 1.3 nm.…”

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confidence: 99%

Structure and function of conjugative pili: monoclonal antibodies as probes for structural variants of F pili

1990

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The lac-tra operon fusion plasmid pTG801 contains the known F plasmid DNA transfer (tra) genes required by Escherichia coli to elaborate functional F pili (T. Grossman and P. M. Silverman, J. Bacteriol. 171:650-656, 1989). Here, we show that these pili are actually structural variants of normal F pili and that the F plasmid must contain additional genes that affect pilus structure and function. We confirmed a previous report that two monoclonal antibodies that recognize epitopes at and near the amino terminus of F pilin do not decorate the sides of normal F pili, as determined by immunogold electron microscopy. However, both antibodies laterally decorated pTG801 pili. The epitope for one of the antibodies has been shown to include the amino-terminal acetyl group of F pilin, which must therefore also be present on pTG801 pilin. Normal antibody staining was restored to pTG801 pili when cells contained, in addition to pTG801, the compatible plasmid pRS31, which must therefore include at least one gene affecting F-pilus structure. One candidate, traD, was excluded as the sole such gene, since traD+ derivatives of a pTG801 strain still elaborated pili that could be laterally decorated with antibody. Moreover, although traD alone restored RNA bacteriophage R17 infectivity to pTG801 cells, as expected, it did not mimic pRS31 in restoring to pTG801 pili other characteristics of normal F pili. We conclude that pRS31 contains as yet uncharacterized genes required for elaboration of structurally normal F pili. Finally, we identified vesicular material, especially abundant in cultures of pTG801 transformants, that stained heavily with the anti-F-pilin monoclonal antibodies. This material may reflect the inner membrane pool of F pilin.

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“…This pilus is composed of filamentous polymers of identical protein subunits (pilin), generally encoded by conjugative plasmids (Marvin and Folkhard 1986). On the basis of their plasmid (pilus) specificity, filamentous phages have been subdivided into several groups that differ both in phage morphology and protein composition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nucleotide sequence of the genome of the filamentous bacteriophage I2-2: Module evolution of the filamentous phage genome

Stassen

Schoenmakers

et al. 1992

J Mol Evol

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The nucleotide sequence of the circular single-stranded genome of the filamentous Escherichia coli phage I2-2 has been determined and compared with those of the filamentous E. coli phages Ff(M13, fl, or fd) and IKe. The I2-2 DNA sequence comprises 6744 nucleotides; 139 nucleotides less than that of the N- and I2-plasmid-specific phage IKe, and 337 (336) nucleotides more than that of the F-plasmid-specific phage Ff. Nucleotide sequence comparisons have indicated that I2-2, IKe, and Ff have a similar genetic organization, and that the genomes of I2-2 and IKe are evolutionarily more closely related than those of I2-2 and Ff. The studies have further demonstrated that the I2-2 genome is a composite replicon, composed of only two-thirds of the ancestral genome of IKe. Only a contiguous I2-2 DNA sequence of 4615 nucleotides encompassing not only the coat protein and phage assembly genes, but also the signal required for efficient phage morphogenesis, was found to be significantly homologous to sequences in the genomes of IKe and Ff. No homology was observed between the consecutive DNA sequence that contains the origins for viral and complementary strand replication and the replication genes. Although other explanations cannot be ruled out, our data strongly suggest that the ancestor filamentous phage genome of phages I2-2 and IKe has exchanged its replication module during evolution with that of another replicon, e.g., a plasmid that also replicates via the so-called rolling circle mechanism.

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Structure of F-Pili: Reassessment of the symmetry

Cited by 35 publications

References 6 publications

Towards a structural biology of bacterial conjugation

Towards a structural biology of bacterial conjugation

Structure and function of conjugative pili: monoclonal antibodies as probes for structural variants of F pili

Nucleotide sequence of the genome of the filamentous bacteriophage I2-2: Module evolution of the filamentous phage genome

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