It is shown that PilU is essential for productive T4P retraction, functioning as an accessory motor that enhances or stabilizes PilT-driven force generation, and it is revealed that PilU activity is modulated by environmental calcium and depends on a flexible C-terminal region that influences motor complex dynamics.
It is shown that the last 12 residues of PilC, representing ∼1% of the protein, are both necessary and sufficient for pilus-tip localisation and filament biogenesis, defining the molecular basis of PilC/PilY1 function and localisation, and establishing a broadly applicable model for T4aP biogenesis.
Milica Denic, Morgane Wuckelt, V. Roig-Zamboni et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
ABSTRACT Kingella kingae is a gram-negative bacterium that is a leading cause of septic arthritis, osteomyelitis, and a variety of other invasive diseases in young children. Infection begins with colonization of the oropharynx, which depends on type IV pili (T4P), surface appendages that promote adherence, twitching mo...
Taylor A. Yount, Eric A. Porsch, Alexa Mihaita et al.· Msphere· 0 citations
How PilC/PilY1 can be retained on the fiber tip under enormous tensile loads generated during mechanical shear and T4P retraction is explained and how diverse T4P systems employ β-strand addition to license fiber assembly is demonstrated.
Taylor J. Ellison, Zoey R. Litt, Justin N. Applegate et al.· Proceedings of the National...· 0 citations
Abstract Like many other bacterial organisms, Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) employs two motility appendages, a single polar flagellum and type IV pili, for sensing environmental cues and traversing liquids and solid surfaces. However, compared to the flagellum, the molecular mechanisms underlying the func...
The cyclical extension and retraction dynamics of type IV pili (T4P) mediate critical virulence traits in many bacterial species, yet how these dynamics are regulated remain poorly understood. Here, by analyzing individual pilus dynamics across mutants covering the entire T4P system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we identi...
Farhana Haque, Zil K. Modi, Lincon Mazumder et al.· bioRxiv· 1 citation
The rise of antibiotic resistance necessitates the discovery of antibacterial compounds with novel mechanisms of action (MoAs). Recent machine learning approaches have shown promise in antibacterial compound discovery, but often identify derivatives of known antibiotic classes rather than mechanistically novel compound...
