Skip to main page content
U.S. flag
See More

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2002 Nov 15;111(4):543-51.
doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(02)01050-4.

Chaperone priming of pilus subunits facilitates a topological transition that drives fiber formation

Frederic G Sauer  1 , Jerome S Pinkner, Gabriel Waksman, Scott J Hultgren
Affiliations
Free article

Chaperone priming of pilus subunits facilitates a topological transition that drives fiber formation

Frederic G Sauer et al. Cell. .
Free article

Abstract

Periplasmic chaperones direct the assembly of adhesive, multi-subunit pilus fibers that play critical roles in bacterial pathogenesis. Pilus assembly occurs via a donor strand exchange mechanism in which the N-terminal extension of one subunit replaces the chaperone G(1) strand that transiently occupies a groove in the neighboring subunit. Here, we show that the chaperone primes the subunit for assembly by holding the groove in an open, activated conformation. During donor strand exchange, the subunit undergoes a topological transition that triggers the closure of the groove and seals the N-terminal extension in place. It is this topological transition, made possible only by the priming action of the chaperone that drives subunit assembly into the fiber.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources