1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Structure and in situ organisation of the Pyrococcus furiosus archaellum machinery

  1. Bertram Daum  Is a corresponding author
  2. Janet Vonck
  3. Annett Bellack
  4. Paushali Chaudhury
  5. Robert Reichelt
  6. Sonja V Albers
  7. Reinhard Rachel
  8. Werner Kühlbrandt
  1. Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Germany
  2. University of Regensburg, Germany
  3. University of Freiburg, Germany
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27470
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  1. Bertram Daum
  2. Janet Vonck
  3. Annett Bellack
  4. Paushali Chaudhury
  5. Robert Reichelt
  6. Sonja V Albers
  7. Reinhard Rachel
  8. Werner Kühlbrandt
(2017)
Structure and in situ organisation of the Pyrococcus furiosus archaellum machinery
eLife 6:e27470.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27470
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Abstract

The archaellum is the macromolecular machinery that archaea use for propulsion or surface adhesion, enabling them to proliferate and invade new territories. The molecular composition of the archaellum and of the motor that drives it appears to be entirely distinct from that of the functionally equivalent bacterial flagellum and flagellar motor. Yet, the structure of the archaellum machinery is scarcely known. Using combined modes of electron cryo-microscopy (cryoEM), we have solved the structure of the Pyrococcus furiosus archaellum filament at 4.2 Å resolution and visualise the architecture and organisation of its motor complex in situ. This allows us to build a structural model combining the archaellum and its motor complex, paving the way to a molecular understanding of archaeal swimming motion.

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Author details

  1. Bertram Daum

    Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany
    For correspondence
    b.daum2@exeter.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3767-264X

  2. Janet Vonck

    Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-5659-8863

  3. Annett Bellack

    Institute of Microbiology and Archaea Centre, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  4. Paushali Chaudhury

    Institute of Biology II, Molecular Biology of Archaea, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  5. Robert Reichelt

    Institute of Microbiology and Archaea Centre, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  6. Sonja V Albers

    Institute of Biology II, Molecular Biology of Archaea, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2459-2226

  7. Reinhard Rachel

    Institute of Microbiology and Archaea Centre, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6367-1221

  8. Werner Kühlbrandt

    Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany
    Competing interests
    Werner Kühlbrandt, Reviewing editor, eLife.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2013-4810

Funding

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Open-access funding)

  • Janet Vonck
  • Werner Kühlbrandt

European Commission (Archaellum Project ID: 311523)

  • Paushali Chaudhury
  • Sonja V Albers

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Edward H Egelman, University of Virginia, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: April 6, 2017
  2. Accepted: June 26, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: June 27, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Accepted Manuscript updated: June 29, 2017 (version 2)
  5. Accepted Manuscript updated: June 29, 2017 (version 3)
  6. Version of Record published: July 19, 2017 (version 4)

Copyright

© 2017, Daum et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Bertram Daum
  2. Janet Vonck
  3. Annett Bellack
  4. Paushali Chaudhury
  5. Robert Reichelt
  6. Sonja V Albers
  7. Reinhard Rachel
  8. Werner Kühlbrandt
(2017)
Structure and in situ organisation of the Pyrococcus furiosus archaellum machinery
eLife 6:e27470.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27470

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