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Open-source Single-particle Analysis for Super-resolution Microscopy with VirusMapper

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Published on: April 9, 2017

Modeling pilus structures from sparse data.

Manuel Campos¹, Olivera Francetic, Michael Nilges

¹Institut Pasteur, Unité de Génétique moléculaire, CNRS URA 2172, Département de Microbiologie, 25 rue du docteur Roux, F-75015 Paris, France.

Journal of Structural Biology

|December 1, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a new computational strategy to model bacterial pili, such as type II secretion systems (T2SS) and type IV pili (T4P). This method accurately predicts pilus structure using molecular modeling and experimental validation, aiding in understanding these essential bacterial components.

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Open-source Single-particle Analysis for Super-resolution Microscopy with VirusMapper

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A Pipeline to Investigate the Structures and Signaling Pathways of Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptors

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Published on: June 8, 2022

Area of Science:

Microbiology
Structural Biology
Biophysics

Background:

Bacterial type II secretion systems (T2SS) and type IV pili (T4P) biogenesis machineries assemble thin filaments from pilin subunits.
Understanding the atomic structure of these filaments is crucial for deciphering their assembly and function.

Purpose of the Study:

To describe a novel calculation strategy for determining a detailed atomic model of the T2SS pilus.
To validate this strategy using T4P systems and compare the architectures of different pili.

Main Methods:

Employed molecular modeling with generalized distance restraints.
Integrated experimental validation, including salt bridge charge inversion and double cysteine substitution with crosslinking.
Utilized lower-resolution information, specifically the helical symmetry parameters of the pilus, avoiding direct fitting into electron microscopy envelopes.

Main Results:

Successfully determined a detailed atomic model of the T2SS pilus from Klebsiella oxytoca.
Validated the strategy with type IV pili (T4P) from Neisseria gonorrhoeae (higher resolution) and Vibrio cholerae (additional experimental data).
The generated models possess sufficient precision for detailed architectural comparisons between different pili.

Conclusions:

The described strategy provides a robust method for atomic-level modeling of bacterial pili.
This approach facilitates comparative analysis of T2SS and T4P architectures.
The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of bacterial filament assembly and biogenesis.