Journal Article

Molecular ruler of the attachment organelle in Mycoplasma pneumoniae

Kenri, Tsuyoshi, Murata, Kohki, Shibayama, Keigo, Nakane, Daisuke, Nishizaka, Takayuki

2021

Overview

Length control is a fundamental requirement for molecular architecture. Even small wall-less bacteria have specially developed macro-molecular structures to support their survival. Mycoplasma pneumoniae , a human pathogen, forms a polar extension called an attachment organelle, which mediates cell division, cytadherence, and cell movement at host cell surface. This characteristic ultrastructure has a constant size of 250–300 nm, but its design principle remains unclear. In this study, we constructed several mutants by genetic manipulation to increase or decrease coiled-coil regions of HMW2, a major component protein of 200 kDa aligned in parallel along the cell axis. HMW2-engineered mutants produced both long and short attachment organelles, which we quantified by transmission electron microscopy and fluorescent microscopy with nano-meter precision. This simple design of HMW2 acting as a molecular ruler for the attachment organelle should provide an insight into bacterial cellular organization and its function for their parasitic lifestyles.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Amino acids / Attachment / Bacterial cell walls / Biology and Life Sciences / Cell division / Cell organelles / Cell surface / Coils / Fluorescence / Genes / Genetic aspects / Genetic engineering / Genomes / Host-bacteria relationships / Medicine and Health Sciences / Methods / Microbiological research / Microscopy / Molecular structure / Molecular weight / Morphology / Motility / Mutants / Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Organelles / Physiological aspects / Proteins / Research and Analysis Methods / Transmission electron microscopy / Ultrastructure