Structure of Clostridium difficile PilJ Exhibits Unprecedented Divergence from Known Type IV Pilins |
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| Authors: | Kurt H Piepenbrink Grace A Maldarelli Claudia F Martinez de la Pe?a George L Mulvey Greg A Snyder Leon De Masi Erik C von Rosenvinge Sebastian Günther Glen D Armstrong Michael S Donnenberg Eric J Sundberg |
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| Institution: | From the ‡Institute of Human Virology.;§Department of Medicine, and ;‖Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201 and ;¶Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Infectious Disease and Alberta Glycomics Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Type IV pili are produced by many pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria and are important for processes as diverse as twitching motility, cellular adhesion, and colonization. Recently, there has been an increased appreciation of the ability of Gram-positive species, including Clostridium difficile, to produce Type IV pili. Here we report the first three-dimensional structure of a Gram-positive Type IV pilin, PilJ, demonstrate its incorporation into Type IV pili, and offer insights into how the Type IV pili of C. difficile may assemble and function. PilJ has several unique structural features, including a dual-pilin fold and the incorporation of a structural zinc ion. We show that PilJ is incorporated into Type IV pili in C. difficile and present a model in which the incorporation of PilJ into pili exposes the C-terminal domain of PilJ to create a novel interaction surface. |
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| Keywords: | Bacterial Adhesion Microbiology Microfilaments Protein Assembly Protein Structure |
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