Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, UK.
College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK.
Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 7;13(1):710. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28337-1.
Archaea use a molecular machine, called the archaellum, to swim. The archaellum consists of an ATP-powered intracellular motor that drives the rotation of an extracellular filament composed of multiple copies of proteins named archaellins. In many species, several archaellin homologs are encoded in the same operon; however, previous structural studies indicated that archaellum filaments mainly consist of only one protein species. Here, we use electron cryo-microscopy to elucidate the structure of the archaellum from Methanocaldococcus villosus at 3.08 Å resolution. The filament is composed of two alternating archaellins, suggesting that the architecture and assembly of archaella is more complex than previously thought. Moreover, we identify structural elements that may contribute to the filament's flexibility.
古菌使用一种称为菌毛的分子机器来游动。菌毛由一个 ATP 驱动的细胞内马达组成,该马达驱动由多个称为菌毛蛋白的蛋白质组成的细胞外细丝的旋转。在许多物种中,几个菌毛蛋白同源物在同一个操纵子中被编码;然而,先前的结构研究表明,菌毛丝主要由仅一种蛋白质组成。在这里,我们使用电子冷冻显微镜以 3.08Å 的分辨率阐明了 Methanocaldococcus villosus 的菌毛结构。细丝由两个交替的菌毛蛋白组成,这表明菌毛的结构和组装比以前想象的更复杂。此外,我们确定了可能有助于细丝柔韧性的结构元素。