Structure of the fibre-forming protein pilin at 2.6 A resolution.
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Parge HE, Forest KT, Hickey MJ, Christensen DA, Getzoff ED, Tainer JA
Structure of the fibre-forming protein pilin at 2.6 A resolution.
Nature. 1995 Nov 2;378(6552):32-8.
- PubMed ID
- 7477282 [ View in PubMed]
- Abstract
The crystallographic structure of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pilin, which assembles into the multifunctional pilus adhesion and virulence factor, reveals an alpha-beta roll fold with a striking 85 A alpha-helical spine and an O-linked disaccharide. Key residues stabilize interactions that allow sequence hypervariability, responsible for pilin's celebrated antigenic variation, within disulphide region beta-strands and connections. Pilin surface shape, hydrophobicity and sequence variation constrain pilus assembly to the packing of flat subunit faces against alpha 1 helices. Helical fibre assembly is postulated to form a core of coiled alpha 1 helices banded by beta-sheet, leaving carbohydrate and hypervariable sequence regions exposed to solvent.