Pilus Assembly in Gram-Positive Bacteria
Werner Pansegrau1, Fabio Bagnoli2
1GSK Vaccines, Siena, Italy. werner.x.pansegrau@gsk.com.
Abstract:
Pili of Gram-positive bacteria are unique structures on the bacterial surface, assembled from covalently linked polypeptide subunits. Pilus assembly proceeds by transpeptidation reactions catalyzed by sortases, followed by covalent anchoring of the filament in the peptidoglycan layer. Another distinctive property is the presence of intramolecular isopeptide bonds, conferring extraordinary chemical and mechanical stability to these elongated structures. Besides their function in cell adhesion and biofilm formation, this section discusses possible application of pilus constituents as vaccine components against Gram-positive pathogens.
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